Ohio State beats Michigan! (in annual blood drive battle)

Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
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Ohio State's Brutus Buckeye with one of the blood donors participating in the 42nd annual Battle of the Blood donation drive against the University of Michigan.
Ohio State's Brutus Buckeye with one of the blood donors participating in the 42nd annual Battle of the Blood donation drive against the University of Michigan.

Ohio State University has won one blood battle, and hopes to win another one Saturday on the gridiron.

Ohio State won the 42nd annual Battle of the Blood donation drive over the University of Michigan, beating the Wolverines for the second year in a row while providing more than 1,700 pints of life-saving blood for patients at OSU's Wexner Medical Center.

“We are so proud of our Ohio State and central Ohio communities, coming together to play a role in this friendly off-the-field competition,” Dr. Naeem Ali, medical director of the University Hospital system and director of critical care clinical operations at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, said in a release. “The selfless act by so many donors has the potential to make a lifesaving impact for thousands of our patients.”

This year, Ohio State beat the University of Michigan by 263 pints, with OSU collecting 1,732 pints and the Wolverines collecting 1,469 pints. In 2022, Ohio State collected 1,630 pints while the University of Michigan collected 1,553 pints.

Both Ohio State and Michigan held donations at their respective campuses during a four-week period that ended on Nov. 22. Ohio State held 48 individual collections throughout the duration of the competition, with the largest donation events at Ohio Stadium, the Schottenstein Center and The Ohio Union.

Danielle Falconer, Versiti area vice president and director of donor services, said that the fact that more than half of the donors gave blood for the first time gives "hope that the next generation is ready and willing to continue serving all of the people who rely on lifesaving blood.”

Since 2019, Versiti has worked with the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center to provide blood and blood-related products to the medical center for patients admitted to the center for traumatic injuries, cancer treatment, organ transplant recipients and other medical procedures.

Versiti, which opened its first permanent blood center in Ohio last year at 3830 Fishinger Blvd. in Hilliard, also holds mobile blood drives across central Ohio. Donors can register for future blood drives at versiti.org.

Blood donation facts:

  • One blood donation can save up to three lives.

  • Every two seconds, someone needs lifesaving blood.

  • 75% of the population will need blood at some point in their lives.

  • Blood donation appointments take less than one hour to complete.

Source: Versiti

@ShahidMeighan

smeighan@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State beats Michigan in 42nd annual blood drive battle