Be Nice to Me, I Gave Blood Today.

This afternoon, many MWU students, faculty, and staff lined up to donate blood at the Downers Grove Campus. The line was pretty long, which was a good thing.

It stands to reason that a university dedicated to health care education would have a good turnout at the blood drive, but I was still impressed to see so many faculty members, staff colleagues, and students from all programs lined up for their turn to make a life-saving donation.

Photo: It didn't hurt a bit and took only about 8 minutes.

Usually for me, the worst part of the experience is the needlestick for the hemoglobin test. Fortunately, the wonderful folks from Heartland Blood Centers did it so quickly, I didn't have time to brace myself for it. My paperwork was approved, and I passed all the tests, so moved on to the donor room. About 12 cots were set up with everyone from a university VP to the manager from IT services and the professor of anatomy were laying out toe-to-toe with students--all doing their little part to help humanity. After being lathered up with iodine and squeezing the ball, the needle was shiftly inserted and the rest was easy.

Photo: The necessary snack before returning to work.

The reward: a free hoodie, a bag of pretzels, and a can of orange juice. More importantly, it was nice to spend some time talking with colleagues and our students as we waited in the long line. And even more important than that, Chicagoland now has quite a few more bags of blood to serve the patients in need. Thanks to the Office of Student Services for organizing this event, and special thanks to all who gave today!