The first blood drive of the school year was on Oct 10. The new Medical Terminology and Health Science teacher, Krystle Harbert, helped organize the drive. The school partnered with Carter BloodCare to make the drive happen. The school has been doing blood drives for around 15 years.
“The school has always done the drive in the past, and we wanted to keep the tradition going,” Harbert said.
HOSA members were given the opportunity to volunteer at the drive. Harbert’s students will also be helping at the drive during their class periods, throughout the day. In total, between her students and the HOSA members, there are over 100 volunteers.
“During the times that I have class, my students will be running the drive,” Harbert said. “During the other times, there are other students who came to me and asked if they can volunteer and the HOSA members who asked to help.”
The tasks the volunteers did consisted of checking in donors, making sure they had the necessary IDs and forms, walking donors to and from the buses, handing out t-shirts and walking the donors back to class. Many students wanted to help out to earn service hours and to gain medical experience.
“I want to experience my first healthcare environment where I am involved in organizing and helping patients,” Angeline Turaeva, ‘27, said. “Although it is not much, it still gives me a taste of what it is like. I also wanted to earn more volunteer hours. My task is to walk people back to the bus. After taking blood, they might feel lightheaded or dizzy, so I am monitoring them to make sure that I am there to call for help if they faint or fall.”
Around 80 students are donating blood, this year. In order to donate, students have to be 16 years or older and they need to have parental permission if they are under 18. On the day of the drive, donors were required to bring their student ID and the parent permission forms.
“I wanted to donate blood because lots of people need it, and it’s something that I am capable of doing,” Misha Patel, ‘26, said.
Since this is Harbert’s first year teaching at the school and hosting the drive, she used some guidance from former medical terminology teacher Jan Swanson.
“This is the school nurse, Ms. Hernandez’s, and my first year teaching here so we did experience a few obstacles,” Harbert said. “There were a lot of things that we didn’t know about, like how to run it, the logistics, the setup and how to get volunteers. We’re super thankful for Ms. Lopez, the clinic assistant. She answered a lot of questions for us and she contacted Dr. Swanson a couple of times. Dr. Swanson also left some supplies like signs for us to use.”
Before students donate blood, they are advised to drink lots of water in the days leading up and to eat a good nutritious breakfast the day of. Harbert advises of some things they should look out for after they donate.
“They should be mindful of if they’re not feeling well,” Harbert said. “If they’re feeling lightheaded or nauseous, they should sit down and let one of the phlebotomists, myself or Ms. Hernandez know.”
The second blood drive of the school year will be in March. Harbert is looking forward to continuing the tradition for the foreseeable future. The students and volunteers also appreciate this opportunity to help out.
“I plan on donating again,” Patel said. “This time I hope to gain experience and see how they do it so next time I won’t be as nervous.”
