A Drop in the Bucket
School of Health Sciences and Graduate School of Social Work Students Organize a Successful Blood Drive
New Yorkers require more than 2,200 units of blood every day for transfusions throughout New York Hospitals. A need that is not being met. Dr. Richard Ancona MD, adjunct professor at School of Health Sciences (SHS) Manhattan Campus Physician Assistant Program, started his Hematology lecture to the Class of 2015 by impressing upon the class about the need for blood donations. He lamented that the United States of America is one of the stingiest countries with regards to blood donations.
When Dr. Ancona urged our class to participate in blood drives, he didn‘t know that plans for the next Touro College Blood drive were already underway.
Students from the SHS Manhattan PA Program and the Graduate School of Social Work were already organizing the May 23rd blood drive. Shmuli Kaufman and Andrew Zhu from the PA Program and Meira Cohen from the Social Work Program led the charge and collaborated with the New York Blood Center (NYBC). Volunteer coordinator Nick Cutrone from the NYBC set the goal for 35 donors.
Touro’s PA and Social Work Programs successfully taught all of its students the importantance of giving of ourselves to help others in their time of need, so there was no shortage of volunteers:
Kaufman and Zhu coordinated and raised awareness about the event. Dhara Patel put her heart and soul into the campaign, taking to the streets to coax pedestrians into the Touro building. Jhonathan Joseph distributed prerequisite forms while Denise DiBrito provided food and drinks to those who had already donated blood. Munirya Siyamwala, Anna Doyban, David Gamulov, Alex Abella, Elaine Kaplinsky, and Chaim Adler manned the door and coordinated many other aspects of the blood drive.
51 people came to give of their time and blood, far outreaching our goal of 35. But it was only a drop in the bucket.
Blood is in constant demand, and if only 10% of New Yorkers donated blood once a year, there would be more than enough to supply every New York hospital with what they need to save lives. As health professionals and humanitarians, we must continue to encourage people to donate.
(By: Chaim A. Adler, PA Student, Secretary of Student Government, Class of 2015)
