In 2011, Trinity Western University became a member of Canadian Blood Service’s Partners of Life, a program that works with various corporate and community organizations to collect blood donations and raise awareness of the importance of such donations. Since that time, TWU has successfully collected over 155 units of blood, either saving or improving the lives of 465 people.
According to Michele Regehr, TWU’s Campus Nurse and Associate Director of Wellness-Health Services, this relationship was initiated largely “due to the collaborative nature of TWU’s campus community and the efforts of student leaders.” In particular, Justin Baerg, who has since graduated with a B.Sc. Honours, contributed significant student leadership to make this partnership as a reality. He has been nominated for an Honouring our Lifeblood National Award as a result of this effort.
“We decided to start the program because we knew TWU had enough personnel to meet the goal of 75 units of blood,” Baerg said. But his vision was not merely to establish such a program. “I would like to come back in a three to five years and see that TWU has donated over 1000 units of blood since we first began the program in 2011.”
Thanks to its success, TWU’s program has been used by Canadian Blood Services as a template when starting blood donation programs at other schools, including the University of the Fraser Valley.
Since the University exceeded its original goal of 75 donations in March, Regehr is inviting staff, faculty, students and alumni to contribute an additional 50 blood donations during the 50th anniversary year. “While this goal is set in light of TWU’s 50th anniversary, the campus community won’t be simply commemorating the university,” said Regehr. “TWU is saving lives.”
HERE’s HOW YOU CAN JOIN TWU’s PARTNERS FOR LIFE TEAM
To register as a “member of our team”, visit www.blood.ca/partnersforlife
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- Click on ‘Partners for Life’
- Click on ‘Join Partners for Life’
- Click on ‘Member’
- Click on ‘Sign me up to donate with my team’
- Fill out the form and click Submit
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Your Partner ID Number is
TRIN011612
(four alpha characters, six numeric)
You will need this number to register your donations to the TWU program
Call 1 888 2 DONATE (1 888 236-6283) to find a blood donor clinic near you and to book your appointment to donate. You can also find clinic and eligibility information and book an appointment at www.blood.ca.
Once you complete this one time registration, all of your future blood donations will automatically count towards our lifesaving goal! Any donations that you have already made in 2012 will also be counted, so please be sure to register if you already gave blood this year.