Hutchison Blood Drive

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Eleanor Merchant, a junior at Hutchison, hosted Hutchison’s first blood drive through the Red Cross. A host needs to provide an open space, volunteers, and donors, while the Red Cross will provide the equipment and supplies and the trained professionals to draw the blood. Hutchison’s faculty, staff, and students stepped up to donate blood throughout the day. The Red Cross was established in 1881, so their experience in their field made it an easy process for Eleanor to host the drive. She says, “There were lots of individual priorities throughout the process but it really came all together because of the help from Ms. Faulkner and Ms. Guyton and the people at the Red Cross that are so good at what they do.” Eleanor approached Ms. Faulkner and Ms. Guyton with her idea to host a blood drive at Hutchison, and they fully supported her to make the idea become a reality. Eleanor noticed the national blood shortage due to COVID19, so decided to do her part to make a difference. Her interests in the medical field pushed her even more to want to create this drive. Depending on the donor’s blood type, their blood goes to a number of different patients. This blood is needed for blood transfusions and transplants in the given hospital. Eleanor emphasizes the importance of giving blood since “there is no synthetic blood in the world, human blood is the only way to help people get the blood they need.” The blood drive was a success and the impact it will make on the patients is life changing. Eleanor ends with “It was really awesome that everyone was able to make this kind of impact, and it made me really happy knowing people at Hutchison could contribute in this way for the Memphis community.” She is hopeful for all the possible ways there could be a drive next year and years to come.