College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Andrew Bean
Barbara Johnson
Brigido Chavez
Doug Koeller
Leo Vanwarmerdam
Matthew Nisonger
Sean Howell
Steve Beaupre
Sylvia Demjen
Temecka Armstrong

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

For the third consecutive month, San Diego Blood Bank officials report that blood supplies have dipped to near-zero levels as the current critical shortage comes on the heels of one of the longest blood droughts in recent years. S.D. Blood Bank officials said urgent appeals for donations brought an increase of 2 percent in January and February but that demand for blood from area hospitals increased by 5 percent. The demand for blood is still outweighing the supply. Therefore, our objective for having a blood drive was to help the San Diego Blood Bank ensure San Diego has an adequate supply of blood, and people in need would be able to get the medical treatment they need.

During the holiday season blood donations are at the highest. Blood donors can only donate blood once every eight weeks so generally blood banks notice a decline in blood donations after the holiday season. Due to the shortage of blood in San Diego and in the rest of the country our group was determined to increase the awareness of the shortage and host a blood drive in order to increase the blood supply

Our group proposed having a blood drive in cooperation with the San Diego Blood Bank at a local company in the San Diego area. The San Diego Blood Bank then would provide our group with their blood mobile which consisted of registered nurses and the proper supplies for blood donation. The San Diego Blood bank also provided us with flyers and incentives for blood donation. The incentives included a whale watching trip, a chance to win Padres tickets and a San Diego Blood Bank t-shirt. We were able to get Thermo Electron to allow us to use their parking area for our event. Our Blood Drive took place on Friday, the 12th of March 2004; from 10 am til 3 pm. Our group was covering a shift from 9 am til 4pm to ensure the success of the Drive. Thermo electron has a small office with roughly 50 employees, but each group member was also responsible for recruiting extra volunteers.

The San Diego Blood Bank requires 40 people to sign up in order to have a donation drive. We were able to sign up 38, which was close enough to our goal to consider it a success.

Our groups objectives and target market was the business sector. Thermo Electron allowed us to utilize their parking lot during the drive. Thermo Electron is located in the dense business environment of Sorrento Valley, which became our target market. Our group members went to these businesses and spoke with their human resources department regarding our blood drive. Most of these businesses were extremely helpful and allowed us to place sign up sheets in their offices. However, some were resistant to our efforts. We also placed flyers around the different businesses and the actual blood mobile itself attracted attention. The majority of our donors did sign up for the event however The San Diego Blood Bank did allow walk-ins

According to studies, the average donor is a college-educated white male, between the ages of 30 and 50, who is married and has an above-average income. However, a broad cross-section of the population donates every day. Furthermore, these “average” statistics are changing, and women and minority groups are volunteering to donate in increasing numbers. Sadly, less than 5 percent of healthy Southern Californians, eligible to donate blood, actually donate each year.

We were able to sign up 38 donors, which gave the San Diego Blood Bank 26 pints of blood – enough to save 78 lives. Many people, including most of the members of our group, were turned away because of the many restrictions of the blood bank. According to the Blood Bank, they routinely maintain only a 2 hour supply of blood. Obviously our blood drive had a positive effect on our community by increasing the dangerously low blood supply. The donated pints from that day went to Children’s Hospital where it helped sick children.

There are many reasons to donate blood and many ethical theories telling us we should. First of all, there is no substitute for human blood, and every two seconds, someone needs blood in the United States, therefore somebody has to always step up to donate blood. Donating demonstrates not only our care and compassion for one another, but also a crucial need to save ourselves. After al, it could be anyone who needs it next. We all realize that we could get into an accident anytime and our life would depend on the blood supply.

Ethic-of-Care asks us to recognize and take seriously the moral worth of relationships, particularly those characterized by caring. In this case the person would donate the blood simply because there is a caring relationship between himself and the recipient. Social-Contract theory states that morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others follow those rules as well. Therefore, a moral person will donate blood because it is mutually beneficial to him and the society that he lives in, and other people in that society agree to do the same.

According to Deontology, an ethical theory that holds that actions are morally right or wrong independent of their consequences, a moral person will donate blood simply because it is the right thing to do. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that holds that an action is right if it produces, or tends to produce, the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. Therefore a moral person will donate because his/her blood will benefit three people as opposed to the one person that will benefit by not donating – themselves.

Some people will donate blood, not because it is the right thing to do, but because there is something in it for them (free food, Limited edition 'are you my type?' T-shirt, A voucher for a complimentary Whale Watching Trip donated by Helgren's Oceanside Sportfishing, and a chance to enter to win one of 7 pair of tickets to a Padres Home Game at Petco Park in April, including Opening Day, Thursday, April 8).

There is an understanding that we must donate blood to ensure that others will have the blood they need when they need it. At the same time, we expect that the blood will be available for us if there is ever that type of need, personally. The cost of donating is practically zero. One hour of our time and a pint of our blood—which replenishes itself is the total amount expended. The benefit, one pint can be used for up to three different patients, which potentially saves three person’s lives.