Vermont Nursing Students Embrace Platelet Donation as a Class Act

by Dan Dowling, Regional Communications Manager

“We all started out as strangers, and we've become a family. We support each other and we work hard together. Typically, when one person has an idea, it just floods our group, and everybody just pitches in and joins. This happened with the Red Cross and donating.”

Vermont State University first-year Practical Nursing Group

When Miranda Berry started nursing school earlier this year, she had no idea how much she would bond with her classmates through learning and service. As a first-year nursing student at Vermont State University, she is now the class president of the practical nursing group.

When the class started learning about blood and blood products, they felt the need to start donating themselves, and the idea spread. 

“We were all talking about community service, and how the platelet and blood need is such in such a heightened time right now. So, this would go along with our community service, and a way to give back to our community and the people in need. We're all here for nursing, and here to help people and heal people. This is just one way to support our drive and what we're meant to do,” said Berry.

One by one, the group began making appointments with the American Red Cross to donate whole blood and platelets. They encouraged each other to participate, and soon it became a class activity with 10 nursing students signing up to donate. The professor of the class, Dr. Mary Hill, couldn't have been prouder of her students. 

The nursing group also has a personal connection to blood and platelet donation. One of their classmates, Alex Blair, is a Leukemia survivor who required multiple units of blood and platelets during her treatment, ultimately resulting in complete remission. To show support for her and others like her, the nursing class has made a collective commitment to donate.

“This is a very compassionate group. When an idea happens in this group, it just floods. It's like fire. I think their compassion for human life is spreading across the campus. I think everybody sees that. It's going to carry into practice as well,” said Hill.

In addition to being a professor of nursing at Vermont State University, she is also a hematology/oncology nurse at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. 

“I witnessed firsthand patients who need these products. Platelets are what stop you from bleeding out and if you don't have them, you can't survive. The treatments we give to save lives, won't be saved without platelets,” Hill said.

The class is learning how essential platelets and platelet donation are to patient care. 

“Platelets save lives, quite literally. I am becoming a nurse to help people and to see the difference that I can make as a nurse and as myself, donating something that I can give to somebody to give them life is just incredible and such an amazing feeling. I'm very fortunate to be able to give. It's just a miraculous experience,” said Berry.

In a platelet donation, an apheresis machine collects a donor’s platelets along with some plasma, returning red cells and most of the plasma back to the donor.

Many of the students in the class now are now regular blood and platelet donors. Each of them has their own reason for why they donate.

“I started donating due to a lot of sickness and illness in family members. I really felt the need to be able to give back. It's a very easy way to do it by donating blood or platelets,” said Sharon Derner, another first-year nursing student.

Platelets play a critical role in the treatment of millions of Americans fighting cancer, chronic diseases and traumatic injuries. Every 30 seconds, someone in the U.S. needs platelets. Low platelet count is a major side effect of cancer treatment. Some types of chemotherapy can damage bone marrow, reducing platelet production.

Dr. Mary Hill and VTSU nursing student Miranda Berry

Berry and the rest of her class hope that donating platelets will continue to help the group bond together while serving their community. 

“We started signing up individually. We've also gone as groups and just donated. Some of us have donated blood and some of us have donated platelets. It's continuing to grow and grow,” said Berry.

In addition to the satisfaction they get from donating and helping others, Berry and Hill both agree that the process of donating platelets can also be a very positive experience. 

“The process was very simple. I don't think I felt a single bit of pain. It's a very peaceful and calming,” said Berry.

“It was actually a nice way to get away from everything and just sit there and not be bothered by the world, but knowing at the same time you're helping somebody. I have never donated platelets before, and I did it with Miranda for the first time about a month ago. It was very positive,” Hill added.

Since platelets must be used within five days of donation, platelet donors are constantly needed. That’s why there’s a constant — and often critical — need for new and current donors to give to keep up with hospital demand. Schedule an appointment to donate today by visiting redcrossblood.org