The school hosts two blood drives every year and has been doing so for over 15 years. The first for this year was today. Dr. Jan Swanson and the students who are part of the Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) organization, help organize the blood drive.
“As a part of HOSA, we believe in learning about health and helping people,” Swanson said. “Donating blood is just one way we can do that.”
If a students donates blood twice during their senior year, they will receive a cord to wear at graduation. In order to donate blood, students must be at least 16 years old and weigh a minimum of 110 pounds. Students who are under 17 must also bring signed guardian forms.
These two restrictions are in place because students donate one pint of blood. If they don’t weigh enough or aren’t old enough, their body won’t be able to handle losing that much blood.
“I like the thought of helping people but I’m kind of nervous,” senior Sritha Potluri said. “The first time I did it, it didn’t go too well and I started feeling nauseous.”
Roughly 120-150 students donate blood per blood drive. When someone donates blood, their blood can go to several different people.
“One person’s blood donation can save three lives,” Swanson said. “They separate the platelets, the plasma and the red blood cells and they can give that to three different people.”
Swanson and HOSA encourage everyone to donate blood if they are eligible. The blood drive will be happening all day today. Swanson and some of her students will be there, helping run the event all day.
“I wanted to volunteer at the blood drive because even though I’m not qualified to donate, I’d still like to help patients who need or can’t make the blood that we could give them,” HOSA sophomore Aditi Gudiboina said. “It’s important to me because, especially with the desire to go into the medical field, helping people is just something I support and want to be part of.”
