Nursing Assessment Of Blood Donation Practices

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A Community Assessment of Erie County Volunteer Firefighters and Blood Donation

Department of Nursing

Table of Contents

I. Background Information on Affiliating Agency……………….

II. Definition of Community ………………………………………………..

III. Approaches Used to Assess Community ………………………………..

IV. Description of Survey ………………………………..

V. Assessment of Community …………………………………………….

A. People …………………………………………………………………

1. Age and Gender Distribution ………………………………………

2. Ethnicity …………………………………………………………

3. Educational Levels …………………………………………………

4. Language …………………………………………………………

5. Religion …………………………………………………………….

6. Income ……………………………………………………………

7. Occupations ……………………………………………………..

8. Housing ……………………………………………………………

B. Community Structures

1. Government or Management ……………………………………..

2. Educational Agencies …………………………………………....

3. Agents of Social Control ………………………………………..

4. Informal Power Structures ………………………………………..

5. Production, Consumption & Distribution

of Goods and Services …………………………………….

6. Family Structures ………………………………………………

C. Other Aspects ………………………………………………………

1. Geography ………………………………………………………

2. Transportation …………………………………………………...

3. Recreation ………………………………………………………

4. Communication ………………………………………………..

D. Health Risk Factors ………………………………………………..

E. Resources for Dealing with Risk Factors …………………………

1. Social Changes Needed to Combat Risk Factors………….

F. Stressors …………………………………………………………

G. Analysis of Data …………………………………………………..

VI. Summary …………………………………………………………

VII. Conclusions …………………………………………………………

VIII. Recommendations …………………………………………………..

IX. References ……………………………………………………………

X. Appendices

A. American Red Cross Web Site Home Page

B. Neumans Community Assessment Model

C. Community Blood Donation Survey

D. Survey Results

A Community Assessment of Erie County Voluntary Firefighters and Blood Donation

The need for blood grows every day. Blood donation centers continuously request the general population to donate. Specific populations are expected to participate in community activities more, due to the nature of their work. One such group are the volunteer firefighters of Erie County, New York. These are the men and women who rescue victims of accidents and disasters daily. The purpose of this assessment, done in conjunction with the American Red Cross, is to determine whether and why volunteer firefighters participate in blood donation.

The scope of this assessment will include a description of the Erie County volunteer firefighter population, the community structures of the Erie County, and other various aspects of the community as well. It will include health risks and stressors relative to firefighting. The identification of volunteer firefighter needs and recommendations to remedy these needs along with conclusions drawn from the research will be provided. An analysis of the data collected will be provided.

Background Information on Affiliating Agency

The affiliating agency used for this assessment was the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross began in 1881 as an offshoot of the European Red Cross by Clara Barton in Dansville, NY. Its purpose is to “provide emergency aid during civil disasters such as floods and earthquakes, offer humanitarian services for armed forces personnel and their families, and operate centers for the collecting and processing blood and blood products.” (Davis, 1993, p. 79) The name of the local chapter in Erie County is the Greater Buffalo Chapter (see Appendix A).

Definition of Community

Community, according to Anderson and McFarlane (2000), is described as a “complex webs of people shaped by relationships, interdependence, mutual interests, and patterns of interaction” (p. 93). Further, Anderson and McFarlane note “The community encompasses people in a particular time and place” (p.

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