Interested in local nursing programs, Hoard started a scholarship at College of the Redwoods in 2006 and recently established a similar scholarship for students in the nursing program at Humboldt State University. Each of the two annual recipients receives $2,500 toward educational expenses.
“The first name that came to mind was the Lease on Life Extension Scholarship, because the bypass extended my life,” he explained. “I didn’t want it named after me, but wanted to honor nurses and lab technicians at the Northern California Community Blood Bank in Eureka to show my appreciation for their work.” He also hopes his initiative will encourage more people in the community to become blood donors.
Accordingly named the Nursing Scholarship to Honor the Northern California Community Blood Bank, the HSU scholarship is intended to spur more faculty, staff and students to give blood at the University, drawing attention by its name. Blood drives began on campus in the 1980s, when blood bank staff loaded their station wagon with supplies and set up in the cafeteria.
The first Bloodmobile was acquired in 1990. The blood bank would like to see about 25 units donated each time the Bloodmobile is on campus. That would be about 1,100 units over the course of a year.
According to Thomas Schallert, administrator for the Northern California Community Blood Bank, “The need never ends. It’s a job that’s never over,” in reference to generating adequate blood supplies to serve the community. Almost 8,500 donors have given in the last two years throughout Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. “We have the highest percentage of blood bank giving in the U.S.,” Schallert says.
MaryAnne Levine, professor of nursing at HSU, echoed Schallert’s goal, “This scholarship is exemplary in encouraging community involvement and support. Our nursing program is very appreciative of Mr. Hoard’s efforts.”
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Hoard relocated to Humboldt County in 2000 from Redwood City, after retiring at around age 70 from a career as an accountant. He had a soft spot for the area, dating back to 1945, when his family vacationed here after World War II. Interested in local history and heritage and an avid commuter by bicycle, he also enjoys dancing and attending musical and performing artist concerts. But donating blood is dear to his heart.
Hoard donates platelets or plasma to the Northern California Community Blood Bank about every two weeks and red blood cells about twice a year—the limit. His goal is to donate 24 times a year; each donation is a unit. When a resident of the peninsula, south of San Francisco, he was a regular donor to the Stanford blood bank.
The first two Humboldt State recipients of the Nursing Scholarship to Honor the Northern California Community Blood Bank were April Slack in Fall 2007 and Stephanie Smith in Spring 2008. Each received $2,500. Slack attended College of the Redwoods to complete her prerequisites for a California State University nursing program. “The first time I came to Humboldt, I fell in love. I knew this was the place where I wanted to go to college,” she said. She graduated from HSU in May 2008, and plans to stay in the area to work in surgery, neonatal intensive care, or labor and delivery. While a student at HSU, she worked for the county’s Transitional Residential Treatment Facility as part of the mental health staff and at Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna as a licensed vocational nurse on the medical/surgical units. Originally from Visalia, her family relocated to Crescent City during her high school years, where she graduated from Del Norte High School in 1996.
As a local resident, Stephanie Smith chose HSU’s program because of its location. She decided on nursing as a profession because she enjoyed her medical experience working with animals, but saw more opportunities for advancement if she made the transition to working in the human medical field. She also had a leaning toward psychiatric nursing. “I’ve always been interested in psychiatric diseases,” she said. “When I was young, I wanted to be a psychiatrist and read all of my mom’s books on the subject.” Her mom is a family nurse practitioner.
Smith plans to graduate in December 2009 and acquire a job at a local psychiatric facility. She is currently working as a registered veterinary technician at an emergency veterinary clinic in Eureka, where she is the head technician. She places catheters, draws blood, takes radiographs, assists with surgeries, gives IVs, administers injections and applies bandages. She does much of the client education—talking to owners about their pets and their pets’ medications. She is interested in working as a certified nurse assistant to build upon her skills until she finishes her degree. A native of Chatham, Ill., Smith graduated from high school in 2000, and then lived in Denver before moving to Humboldt County in 2004.
The Northern California Community Blood Bank Scholarship at HSU requires that students major in nursing, and gives preference to local students and to those who are currently employed in the field in any capacity.
The Bloodmobile is scheduled to be on the campus several times through November. For more information about locations, view the complete schedule at http://nccbb.org/cgi-local/mobile.cgi or contact Deanna Vallee about blood drives on the HSU campus at (707) 443-8004, dvalle@nccbb.org.