Blood drive donates 32 units of blood to the American Red Cross
March 10, 2023
On Tuesday, the Upper School Council partnered with the American Red Cross for the annual blood drive.
With 40 people signed up to donate, the blood drive was set to exceed expectations from the beginning. Even after eight individuals had to drop out of the drive due to complications such as missing registration documents or health concerns, the 32 units of blood donated by students and faculty members surpassed the results of years past.
“32 participants is pretty good since the Red Cross set a goal of 22 units, and we were even told that we had to cancel a few appointments since they ran out of bags to use. Last year, we collected 30 units, and the Blood Drive from 2019 only collected 19 units, so we are pretty proud of the results this year,” USC co-president Tenzin Bawa said.
Organization and planning efforts by USC were crucial to the success of the blood drive. USC representatives served as volunteers to help streamline the donation process and united with other student groups to ensure the blood drive ran smoothly.
“I think it’s really important for the elected-selected groups to support one another’s endeavors, so when they reached out to SAC about helping with the drive, I knew I wanted to be a volunteer,” Student Activities Committee representative Lily Malloy said.
Volunteers were responsible for checking donors in, contacting alternates in the case of unexpected absences, providing participants with snacks, and tracking their recovery time after donation. It is recommended to stay hydrated and eat something soon after a blood donation, while being monitored for negative side effects for at least 10 minutes after giving blood.
With the ongoing national blood crisis that threatens patient care, donations collected during the drive will be used to treat people with blood disorders, accident victims, cancer patients, individuals in need of blood transfusions, and so many more.
“It was nice to know I’m making a difference in an easy way. All the donations will be used to help people who need it, which definitely overshadows any nervousness I had during the process because it can be a little overwhelming at first,” senior Solvej Eversoll said.
All blood drive donors were entered into a lottery to receive a special prize that will be announced in the coming weeks.
To look for future donation opportunities, see the Red Cross website.