“Giving blood scares some people, but it’s more scary to not know where your next blood transfusion is coming from, ” explains Leigh-Anne Barreira, senior at Woodland.
This Friday, December 19th, Woodland, with the help of Red Cross, will be holding a blood drive from 8 am to 1 pm. The drive will be run by Barreira as her senior project.
Barreira knew when choosing her senior project she wanted to do something to help people. She tells how when you ask most students why they don’t donate blood they simply say “never thought about it” or “was never really asked to.” She wanted to give students an opportunity to help people. Barreira explains that it has always been one of her personal fears to give blood and she found hosting a blood drive for her senior project will not only help her overcome that fear and grow as a leader, but she will also be given her a chance to help people that really need it.
According to www.redcrossblood.com, the average human contains approximately ten pints of blood and most blood drives ask for a one pint donation. Donating blood may scary for most people but for the survival of thousands of people a year it is crucial. Every two seconds someone, in the United States alone, needs blood. One pint can help up to three people.
Many people would love to donate for the cause and help out but are scared of needles or are wary of the cleanliness of the process. Red Cross assures that it is perfectly safe. A sterile needle is used for each donor and then discarded. Every donor is given a mini-physical to check their blood pressure, temperature, pulse and hemoglobin to be sure they are fit, safe, and ready for the process.
It may only be one donation but one pint could save a life. Approximately thirty-eight percent of the US population is eligible to donate and only around ten percent do.
Donating the blood takes about ten to fifteen minutes, but the whole process takes about an hour. All blood donated is tested for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and other infectious diseases, and all information you share with the Red Cross stays confidential. One pint of blood can go a long way. A single car accident victim can loose one-hundred pints of blood and you can help them. The Red Cross needs forty-one thousand donations everyday. Do your part and donate.
So be a hero. Come down to the gymnasium on Friday from 8 am to 1pm. You must be seventeen or older to donate. Please eat and drink before donating and bring your donor card, photo identification or two forms of identification.
Photo Credit: http://www.armymwr.com/heart-donate.aspx
