TWU drive a bloody success
Justin Baerg was able to successfully arrange for the Canadian Blood Services, with a staff of 25, to come to Trinity Western University campus on March 2 and set up an onsite clinic in the cafeteria.
Photo: Rachel Demian
Two years ago, Simon Moore, a TWU alumni and current UBC medical School student, encouraged freshman and sophomore students to start taking initiative and do things out of the ordinary.
Baerg was one of those young, frail students that had no idea how to make things happen. Despite this, Moore’s message stuck with him. In March 2010, Baerg stepped up to the plate and pursued the idea of a donor clinic on TWU campus.
Kenda Mumal, a freshman student, spent the majority of her life in Iraq. Witnessing three wars, she has seen her fair share of blood and gore. Being a victim of war she wishes she could donate to her own people; however, with this not being a feasible possibility as of now, she donated at TWU instead. “I am doing this for humanity,” Mumal asserted with passion.
Mother nature offered winds that wiped the entire campus of its electricity, resulting in the clinics use of generator power to pull the event off. Then, with a delay of 30 minutes due to Canadian Blood Services loss of an important instrument, problems seemed to plague the event.
Despite the rocky start though, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. “Interest [was] high on campus,” Baerg explained, “last year I took a survey and out of the 300 people surveyed, there was an 80 percent approval rate.”
Many people were motivated to give, since they knew it could save a life. As a result, 76 units collected on March 2, 228 lives will be touched as each unit is manufactured into three components — red blood cells, plasma, and platelets.
Some, however, found this event disturbing. Tim Dunkin, a TWU business student, seemed queasy noticing the donor clinic set up where he eats his daily meals. “This is disgusting, I have to eat dinner there tomorrow night,” Dunkin admited.
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