Giving back to those in need is a part of human nature. To fill the soul, people expose the ones around them to kindness and love. Blood drives are a way of giving back as it helps save lives. On November 29th, Indian Hills High School held a blood drive with the organization Vitalant, a non-profit that provides hospitals with blood supplies. They have several locations around the world, some being at Paramus and Allendale, and rely on the community for blood donations.
Meredith Godfrey, treasurer of student council shares the reason as to why the student council decided to proceed with Vitalant: “Well we’ve held blood drives in past years but last year we couldn’t because there wasn’t enough participation. Vitalant reached out to us again this year and said that blood banks are running short and they are in dire need of donations.” The “dire need” of donations certainly stood out to students when they received a presentation from Vitalant workers in their gym classes. Meredith continues on to explain how the blood bank was successful: “We tried to get as much participation as possible because we knew how much people needed it. We ended up filling up all our slots and it was very successful!”
Senior Emma Locilento shares how there were both negative and positive parts of her involvement: “Everyone involved was super nice and there to comfort and support you. The only problem was that it took a really long time. It didn’t seem that organized.” The workers being friendly and supportive seemed to be a common theme throughout these students’ experiences. The features of this occurrence were touched on in greater detail by senior Cassie Heinsohn. “I felt really comfortable throughout the process,” she says, “They provided us with stress balls, drinks, snacks, and talked to us as our blood was being drawn so that we’d remain calm.” Providing emotional support is a huge factor when holding blood drives as a plethora of people have fears of giving blood. Giving food to the patients seemed to be another favorable pattern, as senior Dylan Asgarian expressed. Asgarian added, “I was one of the first kids there at 8 am so I didn’t have to wait, but it took them awhile to find a vein so I had to sit there for a half an hour.” This can be a problem to keep patients coming back and new ones as well due to the wait being dreadful. However, clearly this slight organizational aspect of the blood drive did not affect the outcome of the donation.
Locilento notes, “I chose to participate in this drive because it is an amazing cause that saves lives! My small amount of nerves is worth helping those in need!” Heinsohn feels a similar way, “I think that as humans it’s our obligation to care about other people who don’t have the things that we take for granted in our everyday lives.”Asgarian provides a somewhat different perspective on why he chose to donate his blood: “Free food,” he jokes, but adds, “Again, I thought it was a good thing to do because they always need more blood.” Blood banks all around the world have an alarmingly low count of blood for patients in need, so it is a very positive thing to be a part of.
Overall, the blood drive was hugely successful, gathering enough blood to save almost 180 lives. Despite some minor complications with waiting for appointments and during the appointments, the positive remarks from the students are encouraging the student council to hold the donation again next year, and hopefully in future years to come.
