The American Red Cross has declared a national blood shortage, but Key Club is aiming to help by hosting a blood drive on Feb. 26. Despite a goal of 25, only 19 people donated blood, coming to only 19 pints of blood.
“I think a lot of people are scared of needles, for one, and they don’t realize how important it is until they are in a situation, whether that’s a family member going through something or themselves,” phlebotomist Emma Voltho said. “A lot of it I think is just miseducation.”
Donated blood is vital, as according to the American Red Cross, someone in the United States needs blood or platelets every two seconds. The only way to get that blood is from human donations, there is no substitution.
“Every pint of blood that you donate, you have the ability to save three people’s lives,” Key Club Adviser Andi Woyak said. “We just want to be able to give back because we never know if we’re going to be in a situation that we’re going to need blood. Other people need it too, and we want to make sure that we’re helping them as well, right?”
One person to donate blood was senior Callie Kurczek. Kurczek has donated multiple times, being motivated to do so by the impact she hopes to have.
“I just want to donate and help people,” Kurczek said.
Some people opt out of donating because they are afraid, while others choose not to because they don’t understand how easy, simple, and fast the process can be.
“You’re going to want to prepare beforehand. You’re going to want to have a good breakfast, have a lot of water, and then you will fill out some questions beforehand and do a mini physical, checking your blood pressure and hemoglobin,” Voltho said. “Then we’ll get you in a bed, take a look at your vein, and if we’re comfortable poking that vein we’ll get you poked and it’ll take about five to ten minutes for that draw to complete.”
After the donation it is important to have something to eat and to continue to drink a lot of water. Snacks, juices, and waters are provided for donors by both the Community Blood Center and Key Club.
“We try to reach out to get free donations. We were able to get Dunkin’ Donuts, we were able to get Kwik Trip, we were able to get breakfast foods and things like that,” Woyak said.
Other than coordinating with the Community Blood Center, Key Club signs donors up during homeroom and ELT and passes out reminders taped on water bottles and snacks the morning of the blood drive.
“You just kind of sit and relax; it’s quite easy,” Kurczek said.
