OSH 7302 Response 2

 Includes at least two substantive responses that each include at least 1 scholarly, professional, or textbook reference with accompanying in-text-citation to support any paraphrased, summarized, or quoted material.

While we prefer not to assign word counts to posts, as a suggested best practice, at least two responses should be at least 200 words. 

Ruth Holmes: Please originate a response to this classmates' discussion.

An organization’s mission statement that I’m choosing to summarize is Houchin Blood Bank, of which I have been a donor for over a decade and donated about 5.5 gallons of blood thus far. Houchin Blood Bank’s mission is “Communities need blood, platelets and plasma so no one fears losing their life over a shortage. Houchin Community Blood Bank and its donors save lives by providing blood supplies to the communities we serve” (HCBB, 2024). They continue on their website to describe their history of lifesaving services through community donations and generosity, and their values and vision seem to be to continue to serve the local community while leading their organization into an era of expansion and innovation. I think that their statement could be improved in that the community donates blood and blood parts (plasma, etc.) for free, so part of their mission should be to deliver that blood to the patients who need it at as low of a cost as possible, while still delivering quality service and safe blood all the way through the process from donation to patient/recipient. I’ve heard from other people who have donated in their lifetime and from other organizations that some donors are paid to donate. One example is the American Red Cross. They offer a $15 e-gift card for donations (American Red Cross, 2025). I think that this could certainly bolster the donator’s drive to donate and improve the experience if this were something that HCBB were willing to provide to their donors. I’m not sure how it would affect the recipient costs, however.

Thought provoking question: Do you think that by offering donors cash instead of prizes diminishes their mission statement or decreases quality of the service to the recipient?

American Red Cross. 2025. Critical Need for Blood Donors. https://www.redcrossblood.org/

Houchin Community Blood Bank (HCBB). 2024. About Houchin. https://hcbb.com/about/