Blood Drive Information

Visitor Parking Information for UNCA Campus Blood Drives (August, October, February, April)

  • The UNCA blood drive is in Highsmith Student Union, use this campus map to navigate to the union: https://maps.unca.edu/.
  • Driving Directions from Broadway: driving on Broadway from downtown, turn right onto Campus Drive, then at the top of the hill take right at stop sign. At the bottom of the hill take right at the stop sign onto University Heights, then up the hill to the union.
  • Non UNCA community members: please register for a visitor parking permit online, print off pass, and place in vehicle window.
  • Visitors can park in any Visitor or All Permit parking space.
  • The closest visitor lot is P17 (flat, short 3-5 minutes walk to Highsmith union): on University Heights, go up the hill and P17 is on the left. After parking, walk out of P17, cross the University Heights, and take a left. Highsmith is at the other end of the parking lot on the right.
  • Once you drive past the crosswalk, the road becomes one way and you cannot turn around. Continue past Highsmith Student Union and Brown Dining Hall (on right) to P-24 (parallel spaces on left) or P-26 (semi circular lot on right).
  • these are the parking spaces along University Heights (parallel spaces) 
  • Please note, donors will likely have to park in a lot/space that requires 5-10 minutes of walking. 
  • Accessible parking is available directly in front of Highsmith Union.

LGBTQ+ Community and the FDA’s MSM policy

Prompted by a concerned community member, we wanted to share some information about the discriminatory federal regulations regarding blood donation that have negatively impacted the LGBTQ+ community since the 1980s, specifically the US Food and Drug Administration’s policy on blood donation by men who have sex with men (MSM). While this policy has shifted in the last six years to be more inclusive (due to incredible, relentless work done by individuals and organizations in multiple sectors; science and technology, politics, non-profit, and more), it does not erase the lasting alienation and harm that has been done. And as the American Medical Association website states, there is still work to be done, including the removal of restrictions on “blood donations by MSM so they are instead based on a person’s individual risk, consistent with the latest scientific evidence, to ensure blood donation criteria is equitably applied across all people.”

See below for some information and resources regarding the issue. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, just a sampling that we found accessible and helpful in better understanding the issue. There will also be a petition at the blood drive in support of the continued examination of the MSM policy.

 

MSM Blood Donation Policy Information