One of our Eastern Washington University (EWU) ROTC Cadre members, Captain Nicholas Carbaugh recently had an article published in the Easterner about the on campus Blood Drive our unit recently assisted with sponsoring:
The cadets pictured are 13 of the 17 cadets that donated blood during the blood drive. Top left to right: Ian House, Jazmin Castrejon, Megan Anderson, Crystal Cruz, Emma Latour, Melinda Leen, Austin Pfennig. Bottom left to right: Ethan Smart, Devante Hall, Erling Anderson, Thomas Luce, Christopher Millward, James Tallakson
The EWU ROTC and Vitalant, formerly known as Inland Northwest Blood Center, partnered to host a blood drive on Oct. 18 on the EWU campus.
Vitalant brought two blood mobiles, each staffed with six personnel and capable of collecting blood donations from six donors at a time. The blood drive collected 97 red blood cell units and 1 plasma unit, surpassing our goal of 80 total units donated and making this the largest blood drive on campus since 2015.
The blood drive was truly a communal event, receiving donations from students, faculty and staff, ROTC Cadets and community residents.
“Every day we need about 200 donors to support our local community,” Brooke Lively, the Vitalant Event Coordinator said. “This event provides approximately 80 units of blood, out of the 200 we need every day to support our local hospitals. As we get into the holiday season when our donations drop off a bit, having an event like this where we can supply that huge donation makes it possible for us to be prepared for emergency situations. It also makes us able to still do regular procedures like chemotherapy and surgeries.”
EWU ROTC has been supporting an annual blood drive at the EWU campus since 1963. [The Easterner]
You can read the rest at the link, but as the article mentions, the EWU ROTC program has at least been sponsoring an on campus blood drive since 1963. The below image is from the 1963 Eastern Washington University yearbook that shows Cadets from 55 years ago participating in a blood drive:
Overall it was an awesome event that it was great see so many of our Cadets keeping alive a tradition began over 50 years ago by the EWU ROTC program.
