Bellevue East hosted another fall blood drive on October 3, sponsored by the Student Leadership Council in collaboration with the American Red Cross.
The fall blood drive gives both students and staff the opportunity to donate blood. The Student Leadership Council has been hosting the event every fall and spring for 25 years.
“There’s a total of 73 slots open,” instructor and Student Leadership Council sponsor Emily Vidlak said. “This year we filled every single one, so that was really exciting. Our goal, because there’s usually about 20 kids who either can’t give or they don’t show up, the goal always is to have about 45-ish successful units of blood donations.”
One student who has given blood multiple times before is senior Madison Swoboda. She is signed up for the American Red Cross mailing list and was emailed about local blood drives near her, one of them being the one at East.
“I wanted to participate because I know there are a lot of people who need blood,” Swoboda said. “I think a lot of people don’t want to donate blood just because they don’t want to take the time, but I feel like it doesn’t really take that long, and it could help a lot of people.”
East partnered with the American Red Cross foundation to make the blood drive possible. The donated blood goes everywhere that it is needed, not just hospitals.
“After the blood donation, it goes to our lab that’s in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Nikki Hill, the student liaison between East and the American Red Cross, said. “We supply 40% of the nation’s blood supply. We’re also the only blood bank that supplies blood to military services nationally and internationally.”
The Nebraska Community Blood Bank (NCCB) requires close to two thousand donations every day to keep up the necessary supply for blood and platelet transfusions. However, across the United States, there has been a national shortage of blood.
“I have a personal history about the whole blood shortage,” Hill said. “My son received 80 units of blood before he passed away when he was seven years old. We actually showed up to the hospital one time when he needed a blood transfusion, and they didn’t have the blood that he needed. So, I personally know how it feels to be told ‘oh, sorry, we don’t have the lifesaving blood for your son today’. It is scary, and the blood shortage is real.”
This year at East’s blood drive, there were a total of 60 registered donors. 20 were deferred, meaning they were unable to give blood, but 38 donations of blood were successfully collected for the Red Cross.
“My goal with blood drives at the high school level is less about how much blood we can donate and more so about getting kids to experience it and potentially become lifetime donors,” Vidlak said. “Most people have a pretty okay experience doing it.”
Hill notes that there aren’t many risks to donating. To minimize them, Hill recommends donors eat meals high in protein and iron, and to stay as hydrated as possible.
“We do have professionals that keep an eye on you,” Hill said. “If you come in not hydrated, or you don’t eat, you are more at risk for fainting. We try to avoid that as much as possible, which is why we have juice boxes and snacks the day of the drive.”
After the donation, the American Red Cross advises donors against heavy lifting and vigorous exercise for the rest of the day. While Swoboda was unable to give blood this time around due to high blood pressure, she encourages others to try. East also gives out incentives, such as gift cards, to students who participate.
“It’s really not as bad as you think,” Swoboda said. “It doesn’t really hurt a lot when you’re doing it, and it does go towards a good cause. You should definitely do it.”
