EPCC Administrator Donates 100th Pint of Blood

Dr. Ron Stroud, El Paso Community College (EPCC) Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Blood Donation Director, was recognized for his 100th blood donation by Vitalant, El Paso’s blood banking organization. According to Vitalant, the College is currently the No. 1 blood donor in the region. “Every blood donation is critically important, and achieving 100 donations is incredibly rare”, Dr. Julie Penley, Vice President of Research, Accreditation & Planning said, “Dr. Stroud’s donations have helped countless individuals in our region, and are great examples of EPCC employees’ commitment to and involvement in our community. His is a goal every eligible donor should strive to achieve.” Fifteen years ago, Dr. Stroud was appointed by the President of EPCC to turn the blood program around. Historically, the college of about 28,000 students was only contributing about 700 pints of blood to the community yearly. Fifteen years later, the college has consistently increased blood donations and averages now 2,500 donations annually. EPCC has contributed 1,762 donations in the 2018-2019 year thus far which helped as many as 5,286 people in need, as one donation can often help as many as three people. In 2014, Dr. Stroud was selected as the recipient of the Donor Recruiter Volunteer Coordinator of the Year and was awarded the Best School Blood Drive Award for his effectiveness in spearheading the blood drives at EPCC. Dr. Stroud was “pleased to have the opportunity to donate [his] 100th pint of blood and help as many as 300 people especially being a universal donor with type O negative blood of which there is always a shortage of in El Paso.” He plans to continue to donate for the rest of his life, donating every 2 months or 6 times a year, and hopes that the EPCC faculty, students and community will follow in his footsteps. For more information on blood drive dates at the EPCC campuses please visit https://www.epcc.edu/Administration/InstitutionalEffectiveness/Documents/Blood_Drive_Dates.pdf, for more information about Vitalant, visit https://www.vitalant.org/Home.aspx.