Recovery time necessary for Wildcats at Blood Battle
September 4, 2012

A WSU student shows her excitement after she gave blood earlier this week.
Paramedics and campus police appeared at the scene of the Blood Battle, a blood drive presented by the Community Involvement Center and the Red Cross. An ambulance and police truck parked outside of the Shepherd Union Building and administered help to Veronica Savage, a campus employee and blood donor.
“Oh God. Oh God. Help me. They took my blood,” said a lightheaded Savage, a sophomore studying English and social work.
When people pass out or faint, paramedics are called in cases of prolonged recovery — cases that last longer than half an hour.
High school and college students planning on donating blood need to eat well beforehand, and always remember to sit down and take time to recover after the process is complete.
Anyone donating blood can pass out, even if a person has donated blood many times previously.
“I’ve never passed out before,” said Savage, who was donating blood for her third time. “I’m doing much better.”
The Blood Battle is a competition against other universities in Utah to see which school can get the most pints. Laura Preece, the special service events chair for the CIC, said WSU had met its pint goal for the day, but definitely wants to see a better turnout.
“We suspect a lot more people throughout the week,” Preece said. “We’ve had a pretty good turnout.”
Riley Davies, a sophomore, had just finished donating blood for his second time and was sitting with others, eating snacks and recovering.
“I like the idea of helping people out,” Davies said. “I try to go whenever I hear about one.”