MTHS’s Successful Blood Drive

In a world where accidents happen nearly every 5 minutes, and hospitals are bombarded with emergency patients, blood becomes the offspring of a struggle to stay afloat.  Twice a year, MTHS has the privilege to team up with BloodSource to alleviate the growing need for blood. It is important for those who can to give blood, because for every 10 people in the U.S., 1 person can actually donate – 1 person whose blood has the potential to save at least 3 lives. However, “on any given day”, approximately “tens of thousands of units of blood are needed in the U.S” (Blood Source).

MTHS’s second blood drive was held on Wednesday, February 24^th. Ever since the few blood drives in 2008 to 2009, we have collected 433 total pints of blood! This year’s blood drives were successful as well: we collected 124 pints Term 2 and 130 pints Wednesday. 167 people had registered to donate blood, 74 being first-time donors!

Stay posted, as our next blood drive will be on the first week of May – stay healthy, wealthy and wise!

Blood Drive was a Tremendous Success

October 28th, 2009 was the day of the Blood Drive here at Monterey Trail High School, where students had the opportunity to save lives just by donating a pint of their blood. Every day in northern California, 700 pints of blood are needed to help those who are in desperate need of additional blood – in the United States alone, 40,000 pints are needed daily to help victims who suffered from car accidents, serious injuries, etc.  According to Ms. Martin, the teacher coordinator for the blood drive “We definitely beat our goal”. Not only did we beat our goal but this blood drive was a record breaker. 132 students that were found eligible to donate, and even many teachers at Monterey Trail High School were generous enough to help by donating their blood, and a few hours of their time. Of the 132 that donated approximately 62% (93 people) were new donors.

150 students signed up to donate blood, though only 132 were eligible to donate (for reasons including being dehydrated, recently visiting a foreign country, having piercings or tattoos done within the past year, etc.) According to Ms. Martin most of these can be avoided by being hydrated and
drinking water throughout the day, and eating a large breakfast before the
blood drive. (For
more advice on this check out Venus and Mars’ article).

What were the rewards?  A free t-shirt, food, and drinks, sure. But the most important of all? Saving a life.  Every day, there are those whose lives are shortened because they lacked the necessary amount of blood. With these contributions made by students and teachers, many loved ones, friends, and family members were saved.

Everybody knows that life is precious, and just in a single moment of time, all could be lost.  Remember, just by donating your blood, you have already saved someone’s life.  If you weren’t able to contribute, but wanted to, don’t worry! Another opportunity is coming in the near future – February 24, 2010, it will once again be time to show how much you care.

Statistics sumbitted by Kyron Richard.
Interview of Ms. Martin by Zarnab Saeed and Valore Zambrano.