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Campus Happenings: Blood Drive, Bluelight App Come to Stony Brook

A roundup of news from around campus at Stony Brook University.

The Stony Brook University Student Blood Drive Committee collected 240 pints of blood collected on Monday at the first blood drive of the semester.

The blood donated will be distributed to different hospitals around Long Island. According to the committee, 57 people also attempted to donate blood, but were unable to do so for various reasons.

The first blood drive of last semester collected 250 pints of blood.  Aline De Jesus, president of the committee, said the conveniency factor is what makes the student blood drives so successful.

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"The blood drives here at Stony help the community by tapping into the student population who most likely would not donate blood if they actually had to go to a blood bank," De Jesus said.

Stony Brook blood drives also help to keep the levels of blood constant and out of emergency levels at local hospitals. There are five Student blood drives throughout the semester, all located at the Student Activities Center between the hours of 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.

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Sebastian Stryker, 21, a senior, said he has donated blood twice before.

"I feel like giving blood is a good thing, and it's seen as a good thing, so walking around with that band on my arm looks cool," Stryker said. "I would hope that if I were in the situation and needed blood there would be people donating."

Upcoming blood drive dates:

  • Oct. 4, 2011 (Tuesday)
  • Oct. 31, 2011 (Monday) 
  • Nov. 21, 2011 (Monday) 
  • Dec. 1, 2011 (Thursday)

SBU Gets Bluelight Smartphone App

Being attatched to your cellphone may not be a bad thing. A new safety feature that can be accessed from a cell phone application has been introduced on campus.

Blue light phones already line Stony Brook’s campus in order to ensure safety and quick responses in case of an emergency. Now, the Office of Emergency Services is offering the SB Guardian, which is being referred to as "a personalized blue light phone in your pocket," can be used from your own cell phone to contact emergency services quickly and efficiently.

"Panic Call Mode" will allow users to access University Police with one quick move, and will also provide the callers location on campus, if the user has a "smart phone" with GPS capability. Through the personalized blue light, the University Police will also receive the identity of the person calling for help, a service a regular blue light phone cannot provide.

This new app also includes a new "Precautionary Timer Mode," which can track the time it should take to get from one location on campus to another. If the caller arrives and deactivates their timer, University Police will not recieve a notification the timer was ever even set. After ignoring reminders to deactivate the timer, the phone goes into Panic Mode and alerts the police.

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