Image
After a multi-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, on April 14th, EHHS hosted a spring blood drive with the help of CT Blood Drive. With the help of the CNA class, Ms. Li Martin, and Mrs. Jess Spinelli's Production class, HOSA was able to plan and execute a successful blood drive. The drive exceeded expectations by receiving 31 pints of donated blood and can potentially save 91 lives.
A blood drive is an event where people can sign up or walk in to get their blood drawn. People usually get a pint drawn, which is done by a professional organization like the Red Cross or in EHHS's case, the CT Blood Drive. These organizations take the blood and use it to help save lives or maintain any disorders.
Ms. Martin has been doing this for a long time, it is pretty traditional for high school students to donate blood. She describes her years of previous experience: “This is the first time we are back with the blood drive only once this year. If we work with CT Blood Center again we might two a year because they are very helpful and wonderful, amazing with them.” During the process of the blood drive, many students helped including Junior HOSA treasure, Jamilyn Amann. Jamilyn states, “Personally, I enjoyed getting the opportunity to help people donate to save lives, so I was content. It was fairly simple to work through, and my main job was to just help people after they donated by bringing them to the mats/chairs and getting them snacks/drinks. Honestly, I would not change anything, the blood drive went well and the outcome was amazing.” Senior donator Lenox Villota states, “The blood drive was good, very welcoming, felt comfortable, especially for the first time, I was excited to give out and knowing I can help people.” They also call to do a follow-up, in the process they check iron levels and after drawing blood they had donors sit down to get their strength up.
The process of donating blood was also very easy, Junior Chloe Hartmann states, “I believe the process was fairly easy! I did not personally donate but from what I observed, it was a quick and hopefully painless process and the event itself was organized amazingly and there was plenty of walking room while still keeping each area separate.” Many students wanted to donate for the simple fact of just knowing it will make an impact on other people's lives. EHHS Senior Silvanna Ramon states, “ I donated because I wanted to be able to get a chance to help others in need”. Students also wanted to help the blood drive to help a good cause and it was a good way to gain experience. EHHS Senior Maurcio Membrano states, “ I wanted to get more comfortable with the medical space because I plan to work in the medical field in the future, the more exposure I get, the more comfortable I feel and I want to help a good cause.”
Ms. Martin believes we will have plenty more blood drives in the near future. She plans to host two or more a year if they go as smoothly as they did this year.
EHHS had a good experience with CT Blood Drives and will continue to work with them. CT Blood Drive is a national organization and they work in other states but this is the first time they ever did a high school in CT.
Picture credits to Sofia Milano
Picture credits to Sofia Milano
