LifeStream Blood Bank is asking USC students to “B positive” as it works to collect the 500 blood donations needed each day to supply hospitals across Southern California.
Reaching that goal entails more than bringing a bloodmobile to campus. Convincing students on their way to class to stop and donate is not so simple. This effort for donations serves a larger purpose. According to LifeStream Blood Bank, they need over 500 blood donations each day to supply over 80 hospitals and medical facilities.
Mario Claborn, a senior majoring in psychology, understands that purpose firsthand. In the summer of 2022, a venomous spider bite left him experiencing chills, vomiting and tremendous pain in his knee. It was four pints of blood that allowed him to remain standing and tell the tale.
Initially, Claborn didn’t realize the significance of the bite nor the repercussions of not immediately getting it checked out. As the pain worsened and the vomiting and chills remained persistent, his condition became a medical emergency.
“I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t walk,” Claborn said. “At that point, I was in the ICU for weeks.”
Claborn said doctors told him his hemoglobin level had fallen to four. He received four blood transfusions as doctors treated the infection amongst other complications caused by the bite.
“That blood transfusion literally did save my life,” Claborn said. “Getting those four pints of blood, that’s why I’m here today.”
While Claborn said he is unable to donate blood himself, he uses his experience as a sepsis survivor to encourage others to give.
“I was a regular college student, perfectly normal. I had no prior complications, and one day I found myself needing to get blood donated to me,” Claborn said. “If I didn’t have it, I literally wouldn’t be here.”
Claborn’s experience is an example of the purpose behind donating blood. But before donations can reach patients, organizations like LifeStream advocate for student donations.
Adam Botello, director of community engagement for LifeStream, said that USC stands out because the organization receives support directly from the university’s administration.
“A lot of times at other college campuses that we work with, we have to work with a student group, like a fraternity or a club,” Botello said. “But in the case of USC, we actually have that top-down support from the actual campus itself and the leadership at the campus.”
That support includes help promoting the drives and informing students when they will take place. LifeStream’s role as the primary blood provider for Keck USC Medical Center also gives the organization special access to hold events at USC Village, Botello said.
“We get a lot of our blood from schools, from the education sector, and during the summer months when those opportunities go away, we’re really struggling for blood donations,” Botello said. “We’re still trying to recover from a really difficult summer.”
Even with the university’s support and the continuing need for blood, LifeStream still faces a steep climb in convincing students to donate. The National Library of Medicine conducted a study in 2023 that states 35.7% of sampled college students participated in blood donations.
Tushar Zhade, a USC senior studying computational biology, noticed the bloodmobile but decided not to donate because he had not been feeling well and was concerned that giving blood could cause him to faint.
Despite deciding not to donate, Zhade said he understands the importance of blood donations because he works alongside the health care field.
Claborn hopes students who are healthy enough to donate will do so to help others.
Claborn says, “It’s kind of like you being a superhero.”
Edited by Leo Li and Fashion Castillo