NHS’ second blood drive falls 29 pints short of record of 109 pints
PHOTO Alyssa Branoff
Laying down for the second time, senior Parker Luchenbill waits for his blood to be drawn so it can be donated to the American Red Cross. “It’s an easy and quick way to give back to people and every person that donates helps save three lives,” Luchenbill said. “Anyone who is considering donating has nothing to worry about. It’s simple and safe.”
January 23, 2016
The tables, chairs, food and drinks were set up, waiting for the donors to come and use them. The NHS volunteers waited, ready to greet the donors and help then after they donated blood. NHS hosted its second blood drive on Jan. 19.
“We had 97 people try to donate, and collected 80 pints of blood, which was 29 pints fewer than the first drive,” chair Michael Fabatz said. “We were still appreciative of each donation, I think [our] big problem was the long weekend, because people forgot that we were having a blood drive the day when we came back to school, and by the time they realized that they wanted to donate blood, it was too late to sign up to give blood.”
Seventeen people were not approved to give blood because they did not meet the requirements.
“Some people don’t fit the height and weight requirements, are on prohibited medications, have low iron, or too high of a blood pressure,” Fabatz said. “Their hands can be too cold, or they have too high of a heart rate or they made a mistake on their consent form. These things make the person ineligible to give blood because it is a risk to their health, and also the person who would receive their blood.”
There were 129 people who signed up for the first blood drive, and this blood drive only had 97 people signed up. This was not only a result of having a long weekend prior to the drive, but also a result of school events and the sports season the drive was held in.
“The blood drive was steady compared to the last one,” chair Madison Shegos said. “Not many people signed up, which is understandable because of sporting events, after school commitments and sickness flying around. Also, many people signed up to give blood on our first blood drive because we gave the donors a free pint of ice cream from Culver’s. This time, we did not offer that, and many people decided not to give blood because there was no ice cream awarded to them. We are planning on bringing that back or having another incentive to donors that give blood at our third and final blood drive of the year.”
The next, and final, blood drive of the year will be in April.
