Blood Drive Feb 2012

Every year, BBCHS has two blood drives: one in October, and one in February. Students have to be sixteen to donate, with a parental permission form. Students who are seventeen or older do not need parental permission. In October, BBCHS donated one hundred units of blood. Our goal for this blood drive is to donate more than the October blood drive.

Before the student gives blood, they should sleep for at least eight hours, eat a healthy breakfast and/or lunch, and drink a few glasses of water. If student drinks water ten to thirty minutes before donating, then they will be less likely to become dizzy or faint after the donation. After donating, students sit and relax in a refreshment area for fifteen minutes or so. There the students will be given water and a snack. If the student still feels lightheaded or is dizzy, then they will stay for longer until they feel better.

Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood, according to Red Cross. More than thirty-eight thousand donations are needed every day. The most common blood type needed is Type O. Forty-five percent of people have O type blood, positive and negative. Type O-negative blood can be used with all types of blood, is always in demand and is often in short supply. Fifteen million units of blood are donated each year in the U.S., eight million people donate, and four point nine million people receive blood. Only three percent of people have AB-positive blood, which is the universal blood and is most often used in emergencies, newborns and for patients requiring massive transfusions.

The donating process is a safe process and the actual blood donation only takes ten to twelve minutes. After checking in, students then get a mini-physical, where the nurses check temperature, blood pressure, pulse and hemoglobin, to make sure the donor is healthy. Roughly one pint of blood is taken, while a human usually has ten. Donors can donate every fifty-six days, or one hundred and twelve if the donor gives double blood. The blood is tested afterwards for HIV, hepatitis B and C viruses, and other infectious diseases. The donated blood must be used within forty-two days. Less than thirty-eight people in the U.S. are able to give blood. In 2006, sixteen million blood donations were collected, nine-point-five million people donated, and five million patients received donated blood.

The main two reasons people don’t donate are that they have never thought about it and that they don’t like needles. One donation can help save up to three people lives. If all students donated from the age of seventeen and donated every fifty-six days till they were seventy-six, the student would have donated forty-eight gallons of blood, which could possibly save more than one thousand lives. Nineteen percent of donors donate occasionally, thirty-one percent are first-time donors, and fifty percent are regular donors. Blood cannot be manufactured; it can only be obtained from people who donate.

It is a great feeling to give blood and is a good way to give a lending hand. Giving blood is one of the only ways students can help the country while at school, and the students get out of a class.