With blood high in demand, the Red Cross Club recently hosted its biannual blood drive. Twice a year, in October and March, students sign up to donate with the knowledge that each pint they give will help save three lives. The blood drive is an amazing way for Mariners to serve their global community and make a difference in the world. This year, Pacifica was able to collect 109 pints of blood, and with every pint saving 3 lives, that is over 300 people helped.
Many students face their fears for the sake of all those needing blood transfusions where about 20 to 30 percent of people have a fear of needles, but that doesn’t stop brave Mariners from supporting their community. Olivia Snider is now a 3 time blood donor who enjoys knowing that her blood will be able to help people across the world. Olivia remarks, “I love knowing that I’m making a difference in the world. I think blood drives are important because of the vitality for blood nowadays and how people can get involved to help out people in need. It’s super fun and it makes you feel like a real hero! Some advice for new blood donors would be to drink lots of water, rest up, and eat those iron rich foods. If you don’t feel well during the process, be sure to let someone know. If I could talk to the person who receives my blood I would say, ‘I am so proud of how far you’ve come and you have so much farther to go. Nothing makes me happier than donating my blood to someone so strong.’” Donating blood is always a gift to those who need it, as well as giving that fulfilling feeling to those brave donors.
Ensuring a blood drive runs smoothly takes significant effort, but the Red Cross Club makes it look easy. Co-President, Kyle Ha, explains, “The most challenging part of hosting a blood drive is making sure we stay on track with the schedule because there’s always a lot of delays because the phlebotomists have to take their time, so if we get backed up, we have to end up turning away students.” Despite the challenge, Kyle says “The most rewarding part of the blood drive is having that feeling of knowing that you’re gonna save 3 lives. There’s a lot of incentives to donate: you get to skip class, you get extra credit, and there’s a lot of snacks. Usually there are t-shirts, sunglasses, or other gifts that you get if you donate, as well as getting a gift card at the end.” But not everything is about the perks of donating, Kyle believes that it is everyone’s obligation to help their community. Doing your part can mean the difference between recovery and being in critical condition for people, so by donating to a local blood drive, you are making a difference in someone’s life.
However, not all who intend to donate can actually donate. The most common reason that people get turned away at blood drives is low iron levels. About 10% of all potential donors get turned away for this reason, but there are many measures one can take to ensure that they meet the necessary requirements. The Red Cross club at Pacifica recommends eating iron rich foods the day prior to donating, which includes foods such as red meat, fish, poultry, beans, spinach, and raisins. This helps ensure that the day of the blood drive, donors have the required amount of iron needed to donate. Other methods of preparation the red cross recommends is to stay hydrated to make the process faster, get plenty of sleep to reduce stress, and avoid caffeine to ensure potential donors aren’t dehydrated. The most important step of this process is filling out the Rapid Pass and carrying your ID to allow for a smooth and easy process on the managing side of things.
Furthermore, not everyone is able to donate blood due to personal reasons; however, there are still plenty of other ways to get involved and help out the community. Recently, Pacifica’s Boys Basketball is hosted a clothing drive on March 28th, from 8:30 to 10:30 AM where they were collecting shoes, purses, belts, scarves, backpacks, wallets, blankets, sheets, drapes, table clothes, and of course shirts, pants, and jackets. The clothing drive was on campus for 2 hours and many of our community members chose to clean out their closets and support our community.
At the end of the day, Mariners have many different ways to take care of their community. By joining clubs and being involved on campus, students have a wide range of volunteer opportunities to take advantage of and ensure that they are helping out locally. Mariners have proved that they are committed to the betterment of not only their campus, but their neighbors as well.
