Giving You the Chance to Save a Life Print
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Written by Eric Best   

 

 As a flurry of New Moves students rush into her classroom the day before mid-semester, Ms. Leonard, the NHS advisor, makes a few last minute plans on this year's National Honor Society Blood Drive. NHS has been working hard for the past two weeks to get White Bear Lake students who are able to give blood to donate. This year the blood drive fell on Friday, November 13th, which may seem

 like the unluckiest day for any event, but it’s not unlucky for the Red Cross and the 5 million people who will require blood transfusions this year. This year 160 students and staff members will donate blood, saving nearly 480 lives.But this blood drive has been a little different from years past as many students eager to donate noticed. “The Red Cross has changed their height and weight criteria for donors.  In the past, if a student was 17 years old and weighed 110 pounds, they were allowed to donate.  Now there is a specific guideline for males/females based on their height and weight,” elaborates Leonard, who has been working on blood drives for the past ten years. But the Red Cross hopes that these guidelines will only help maintain

  the health of the student donors.

As a first-time participant in the blood drive, I was a bit anxious walking into the gym this morning. I was greeted by Marylou, a Red Cross volunteer, who welcomed me into an enclosed area next to the bleachers. I had given blood a few months before that day, so the preparatory part of the donation was a good sign that this would be like my last donation. Marylou proceeded to take my blood pressure, to take a blood sample, which is supposedly the worst part of the donation, and I am inclined to agree, and finally took me through a short test on how safe my blood is. The questions, though random and seemingly irrelevant, always succeed in making me wonder. With questions like, “Have you lived in the UK for more than six months between 1980 and 1996?” and “Have you had sex with a man, even once?” I wonder if maybe my parents were lying to me during the entirety of my childhood and were actually British assassins.

    As I finished all the necessary preparations Marylou brought me to a table in the middle of the gym. I passed by my fellow classmates who were giving blood, their faces seemed happy enough, no one was gushing blood from their arm and everyone looked intact. I got up on top of my stretcher and started to take deep breaths and squeezed a stress ball so my veins would pop out. “You have two jobs as a donor, take deep, controlled breaths, and to keep rolling that ball in your hand,” explained Marylou, being very serious. I looked straight up at the fuzzy gym ceiling and closed my eyes, wanting to sleep due to a less than interesting class before my arrival. Marylou shook my free arm, thinking I was asleep or that I had died during her short lapse of watching me, I replied that I was alive and feeling tired, but more importantly that I would not sue her if I failed to survive this ordeal.

     My blood was flowing as fast as the giant, delicious pastries on the recovery tables were being taken; I really wanted a giant chocolate muffin, so I tried focusing on my bleeding and ignoring the incessant NHS members trying to take my mind off the needle in my arm. I filled the bag in about seven minutes and I rushed, rushed meaning slowly carried over by an NHS member who wanted to take care of me, to the recovery table where I was welcomed with gifts of a giant muffin, cookies, canned orange juice, and loads of stickers. I was glad that I was finally done and could relax and I had the perfect excuse to miss class. Overall my blood donation experience was very pleasant and I was back in class in just 40 minutes. I felt good knowing that I was one of many students and staff that took a part in saving the lives of people in our community.