On Friday Feb. 28, the American Red Cross hosted a blood drive at Hayes. The set up in the auxiliary gymnasium included medical beds along with places for students to get examined before giving blood.
Senior Clara Bruestle was in charge of organizing the event as part of her end-of-the-year Global Scholars Project.
“I want to have a job in healthcare, so I decided to do my project related to [that],” Bruestle said. “I was looking at different worldwide health problems right now and there’s a global blood shortage. So I thought doing a blood drive would be a good way to help out.”
Choosing the blood drive as Bruestle’s project was a way for her and other students to get involved and to get educated on the purpose of blood donations.
During the process Bruestle worked with Janelle Bowman, the American Red Cross account manager for Delaware County and Madison county. She was the person behind the scenes connecting with the student representatives and the Red Cross to help coordinate the drive.
“We need to start building back the donor pool immediately,” Bowman said. “So start [donating blood] as young as you can and get in the habit of doing it as much as you can, because your body adjusts to it the younger you are.”
During the blood drive, students came in periodically throughout the day, with slots almost every period. First, the Red Cross nurses make sure that the people volunteering to donate are healthy enough to give blood. Then they begin the process of a blood donation.
“The main surprise since it was my first time donating was having to have a certain heart rate and iron level to qualify,” senior Morgan Homan said.
When donating, side effects are common and students always want to make sure to follow the proper procedure of drinking water, eating a well balanced meal and keeping physical activity to a minimum after donating.
“They don’t teach you in high school that the only way for people to get blood is from a donor to donate blood,” Bowman said. “It is so important [to donate] because blood only has a 42-day shelf life.”
The American Red Cross regularly hosts blood drives in schools and other community locations; however, this is the first time in years that they hosted a drive at Hayes.
“I hope that this is something that becomes kind of like a yearly thing and that Hayes will continue to have more blood [drives],” Bruestle said.
Donating blood is something that is not super time-consuming and is an easy way to help the people in need. The Delaware county American Red Cross website has updated locations and times for donating blood for people interested.
“I will definitely donate again because the experience was positive and quick and I felt like I helped someone in need,” Hohman said.
