The Radford High School Blood Drive was held on Nov. 7 in the multipurpose room. It was organized by Health teacher Christine Christe with the help of Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) and Future Health Professionals (HOSA) programs. The blood goes to anybody in the state of Hawaii in need.
“You should donate blood to save lives. You can feel good about helping your community. You get community service hours, and you know if you ever need blood, it’s good to know you donated it in the past,” said Christe.
Interested individuals can donate blood if they are 16 years and older. The goal of the blood drive was to reach 60 pints of blood. Through the hard work of students and faculty, Radford was able to collect 61 pints of blood by the end of the event.
Christe described the process of testing the donated blood: “First it goes to the lab to get tested, they have to do all the testing first. Then it gets stored at the blood bank for when the hospitals need it, which is right now, right away.”
Donating blood is not just one donation, each blood donation can save up to three lives. Blood is needed now more than ever with injuries that are currently on the rise in areas such as Maui.
“You can actually save up to three lives because the blood gets separated into three different parts and can actually go to three different people,” said Christe, “So it’s super good for your community, super good for helping anybody who has cancer, needs transplants, or got into an accident.”
More than 38,000 blood donations are needed daily to help those who need it most. Interested individuals must be at least 16 years of age and weigh at least 110 pounds. Before going to the drive, they need to make sure that they get a good night’s rest, eat a healthy meal, and drink lots of water.
Radford High School’s next blood drives are Tuesday, Feb 6 and Tuesday, Apr 9. Learn more and get updates on Radford’s blood drives by texting @radfordbd to 81010 to be added on the Remind app.