On Tuesday, October 8th, the annual blood drives took place. Although HOSA and Senior Class Council hosts these twice a year, students are encouraged to donate as much blood as possible in order to help more and more people.
HOSA sponsor Debbie Davis talks about some of what your blood can do for others. “Anyone who needs a blood transfusion can use this blood which can be suffering from a traumatic injury, someone with some kind of condition that causes them to need blood, there are many different reasons for why people could need blood.”
School isn’t the only place you can donate blood; several other locations are often available for donation if you missed the drive.
“We just kind of organize this at school and then try to get kids to kind of donate blood,” Miss Davis said. “The blood itself gets processed at the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks and they are the ones who distribute it to the community. They run drives in other areas of NWA as well.”
According to Miss Davis, Sonic does a blood drive. There is a list of high schools that donate all over the state of Arkansas.
Senior John Strange came to donate for the fifth time since his sophomore year.
“It hurts for a second but then it’s okay,” Strange said. “When the blood is actually being removed, you get a little light headed, but it isn’t really that bad either. Sometimes I mess with the assistant and act like I’m feeling dizzy or passing out. It’s really funny.”
Senior Brett Shumate is a “runner”; his job is to grab the extracted blood when it’s done being taken and run it to a storage area.
“It’s boring most of the time since we’re just standing here, but we’re making it a game right now to see who can get the most blood delivered. The score is four to one right now in my favor,” said Shumate. “You just gotta have fun when you can and be serious and when you need to be.”
Junior Lauren Howard and senior Joseph McCulley both felt uneasy after their blood had been taken. McCulley had even passed out.
“The last thing I remember was closing my eyes for a just second and then everything went blank,” McCulley said. “I feel a lot better now though.”
Howard had a similar experience, but didn’t faint. “This was my first time donating,” she said. “I was really nervous at first but it wasn’t that bad until later when I started feeling a little light headed.”
With 92 pints of blood donated to help those in need, the Community Blood Center will help many a wounded person.
