More than 1.6 million people were diagnosed with cancer last year. A good amount of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment according to the Red Cross website.

The American Red Cross came to Cerritos College Monday, Sept. 12 until Thursday Sept. 15 for the blood drive, which took place in Falcon Square from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Senior account manager for the Red Cross Guinevere Endter said, “143 units of blood, we multiply [143 people donating] by 3 [the number of people each donation helps] that’s 429 lives we saved, 143 people actually donated. There were more people who came to donate, but 143 were successful donations.”

Zenia Shah, volunteer for American Red Cross Bloodmobile, said, “Donating blood can save human lives, and by downloading the app donors can track to which hospital their blood donation to will be sent to.”

This new app is free and available for download on iPhone and Android devices.

The American Red Cross introduced the first-of-its kind blood donor app that puts the power to save lives in the palm of your hand. Through the app, users can schedule appointments, track total donations, earn rewards and invite others to join them on a lifesaving team.

The blood donor app is a great new way to help meet the constant need for blood.

The features on the app include:

• Find local blood drives and donation centers quickly and easily
• Convenient, easy appointment scheduling and rescheduling
• Receive appointment reminders
• Keep track of total blood donations
• Receive special blood shortage alert messages
• Claim rewards from participating retailers for donating blood or platelets
• Join or create a lifesaving team, recruit other blood donors and view rankings on the Blood Donor Teams Leaderboard
• Rate the blood donation experience
• Follow the user’s blood donation journey from donation through delivery, when available.

Simply text “BLOODAPP” to 90999* to get the app that helps save lives; or search Red Cross Blood on the App Store; or on the Google Play store.

Business Accounting major Akriti Pokharel said, “It is my dream. I always wanted to donate blood to help another life.”

Mechanical Engineering major Josue Diaz said, “I just like the idea of donating blood. I go out of my way and go donate blood at other college campuses.”

Volunteer from the bloodmobile Daisy Gonzalez said, “Having the bloodmobile come inside campus [makes] it easier to have more walk-in [donors].

“A lot of students are passing by and we approach them, providing information of the following days that the bloodmobile will still be on campus, in case they decide to stop by, most of the time students do come back.”

She added, “People who donate a pint of their blood can save up to three lives, every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood.”

Jubilee Munozvilla, physics major, said that by donating blood for a good cause, she can also find out what type of blood she is.

Many of the donors understood giving blood is for a cause bigger than themselves.

Nursing major Naomi Write said, “It is for a good cause.”

The next scheduled bloodmobile visit will be on Monday Nov. 7 until Thursday Nov. 10.

For details information at Sponsor Code: Cerritos College or at the Students Health Service Health Services.

Office 562-860-2451 Ext. 2321