{"id":4282,"date":"2025-03-19T12:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T16:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=4282"},"modified":"2025-03-19T12:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T16:09:09","slug":"donate-blood-platelets-or-plasma-give-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/donate-blood-platelets-or-plasma-give-life\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDonate Blood, Platelets, or Plasma. Give Life\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Shivali Shah, Digital Editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonate Blood, Platelets, or Plasma. Give Life\u201d \u2013 This simple slogan symbolizes the act of kindness that was central to River Hill\u2019s Red Cross Blood Drive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Cross Blood Drive took place on Thursday, March 13th, providing an opportunity for both students and teachers to contribute to a vital cause. Junior Sophia Chudnovsky, Co-President of the Red Cross Club, emphasized the impact of donation, stating, \u201cYou have the ability to save up to 3 lives and a baby with 1 standard blood donation unit, with power red donations (2 blood units) having the ability to save double the lives.\u201d The event, held in the auxiliary gym throughout the school day, was open to all River Hill students and faculty members. To donate, students were given passes to leave class and report directly to the gym where the donation process took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event was organized and run by a team of experienced American Red Cross staff, with the support of student volunteers and members of the Red Cross Club. The volunteers helped ensure the event ran smoothly, assisting with registration, donor escorts and manning the canteen. As a way to encourage participation, volunteers earned one service hour, while those who donated blood received three service hours in recognition of their generous contribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, many of the students were motivated to donate not only by the service hours, but also by the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Junior Eliana Reyes shares \u201cI think it\u2019s important to get involved because people don\u2019t realize how much they can help by a small donation and it can truly make a difference, plus I think it\u2019s a great way to practice doing things that may seem scary for a good reason!” Junior Sarah Burns also expressed her desire to give back, saying, \u201cI think it\u2019s important because it\u2019s a way to give back to the community and help those in need. Especially if you have a common blood type like me, giving blood literally saves someone\u2019s life. I\u2019m pretty sure there has also been a blood shortage recently, and who knows? Maybe by giving blood you are saving a family member or friend.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before donating blood, donors had varying feelings about the experience. Some, like Burns, have experienced blood draws in the past and feel confident, \u201cNo I\u2019m not really nervous\u2026needles don\u2019t scare me that much. From my experience, shots hurt a whole lot more than blood draws because they go deep into the muscle and cause a lot of pressure. Meanwhile, blood draws are very superficial and the only part that hurts is when the needle immediately goes in. If you\u2019ve ever gotten a piercing, it\u2019s way less than that.\u201d She also reflects that she was looking forward to the experience in a way, \u201cI get to read for like an hour which is nice.\u201d On the other hand, some donors, like Reyes, felt some nerves in anticipation of the event, \u201cI am nervous about donating… I don\u2019t want my body to react poorly to the drawing or have a painful experience.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of the blood drive was built on careful planning and teamwork by the Red Cross Club officers. As Chudnovsky explains, \u201cThe other officers and I helped plan the drive by scheduling the date with the Red Cross and school administration last Fall. We held a Blood Drive advocacy and informational preparation meeting to make sure our club members were on board with our mission. For the 3 weeks leading up to the drive, we set up a sign-up table outside the cafeteria to recruit potential donors and inform them of the requirements to donate. Furthermore, we coordinated the tables and needs in the Aux Gym for the day of the drive, helped set up the gym, and volunteered throughout the day for the drive.\u201d Their dedication to every detail, from recruiting donors to organizing the logistics in the gym, played a pivotal role in ensuring the event\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building on this strong foundation, the Red Cross Club also took steps to educate themselves and better understand the impact of their work. In preparation for the blood drive, the Red Cross Club hosted Richard Curry, a Biomedical Equipment Technician with the American Red Cross, who brought over six years of experience to share with the group. Curry, who plays a key role in ensuring the safety and effectiveness of blood donations, used his extensive knowledge to educate club members about the critical importance of blood drives. His presentation highlighted the life-saving impact of each donation and emphasized the large role the Red Cross plays in maintaining a steady blood supply. This informative session helped equip the Red Cross Club members with a deeper understanding of their role in the event and reinforced the significance of their contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive did not come without its challenges. As Chudnovsky describes, \u201cSome obstacles [we faced] included getting donors who fit the criteria; there were so many students interested in donating that weren\u2019t available during the appointment times or didn\u2019t meet height or weight requirements. And during the drive, we definitely had some technical difficulties getting donors signed in through the Rapid Pass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Cross Blood Drive at River Hill not only provided an opportunity for students and faculty to contribute to a life-saving cause but also offered valuable educational and personal growth experiences. As Chudnovsky explains, “It\u2019s super important for the drive to be accessible to high school students because they can help save lives! By donating, you can learn your blood type and have free health-screening, which can help you decide if you’d like to donate again in the future. This is also a great opportunity for Red Cross club members and student volunteers to engage in service and further their event planning and collaboration skills.” The experience was a reminder that even small acts of kindness can create positive change that ripples through the community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shivali Shah, Digital Editor \u201cDonate Blood, Platelets, or Plasma. Give Life\u201d \u2013 This simple slogan symbolizes the act of kindness that was central to River Hill\u2019s Red Cross Blood Drive.  The Red Cross Blood Drive took place on Thursday, March 13th, providing an opportunity for both students and teachers to contribute to a vital…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":4283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[410,409,1181,286,281,408,269,211,285],"class_list":["post-4282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-american-red-cross","tag-blood-drive","tag-donation","tag-journalism","tag-news","tag-red-cross","tag-rhhs","tag-river-hill","tag-river-hill-high-school"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/bd.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4284,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282\/revisions\/4284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}