Team OC gives the gift of life this holiday season

Patient, kind, generous and very engaged: those were the words Canadian Blood Services Business Development Manager Janna Pantella called Team OC when they came to the centre to donate much-needed plasma early in December.

Team OC included 18 staff members who signed up to donate blood this season. Kelowna Campus Co-ordinator Angie March led the charge, setting up the partnership with the Canadian Blood Services and encouraging colleagues to join the initiative.

“People were so excited and thought this was a great thing to do for the community,” she said. “We had first time donors and they were nervous but excited. I worked from the (donation) clinic that afternoon so I could be with each person. It gave folks the support they needed.”

She said it was important to donate as a group to make it more fun and approachable.

“There’s strength in numbers and takes the fear out of donating,” March said.

The next step she said is to build on the momentum Team OC started. She said she’s hoping one day, Team OC will have 50 donors come out in one day.

“We could book the clinic every 10 minutes and fill their entire schedule for the day,” she said.

History Professor Howard Hisdal was one of Team OC’s donors, whose participation on Dec. 1 marked his 89^th donation.  He said his motivation for donating was his youngest brother, who went through an open-heart surgery and needed blood in the early ‘60s.

“My father was in the military and he went into the mess hall and asked for donations,” he said. “My brother must have gotten 12 to 20 donations on the spot.”

Hisdal said while he wanted to pay it forward with his donations, another part of his goal is to encourage British Columbians to come out and donate blood.

“We have to import blood and buy plasma from the U.S. and Alberta,” he said. “We need to have more of a sense of community and donate blood when you can.”

He said the experience of donating plasma with fellow OC staff and faculty was wonderful.

“When we had the OC community plasma giving event, that was wonderful. It was just nice to be with people that I’ve seen on campus and work with,” he explained. “It was a morale-boosting event.”

Pantella said with the Team OC donation, over 12 litres of plasma was collected, which will be used to create specialized medicines to treat bleeding disorders, immunodeficiencies and burns. Since each donation has the potential to help about four people, Team OC likely helped about 75 people who need blood.

“The Okanagan College team, by giving their time, gave the gift of more time with loved ones to a fellow Canadian this year,” Pantella said. “What better gift is there?”

For his part, Hisdal said he hopes others within the OC community see that donating blood is worthwhile.

“It may be inconvenient and it won’t make you money, but it will help people,” he said. “It will help save lives. It’s a very worthwhile thing to do and hopefully, you can find personal satisfaction in it, too.”