Prosper’s Health Occupations Students of America hosted its annual blood drive yesterday, Nov. 13, in one of the school’s gyms. With 125 people donating, HOSA leaped over its goal amount, raising 92 units. One unit of blood saves three lives. In total, Prosper donated enough blood to save 276 lives around the Collin County area.
To give blood, participants had to schedule an appointment, bring a photo ID, and in some cases, sign a permission slip.
“So for 10 years that I’ve been at Prosper High School, we’ve been doing Blood Drive biannually,” HOSA sponsor Kelli Factor said. “They have really come to depend on us for our big donation, because we usually meet our goal and then some. The community, Collin County, asks us to participate because us, Allen, (and) McKinney really contribute a lot of blood.”
To meet their goal of 96 pints of blood this year, HOSA partners with Carter BloodCare, the organization that sends professionals and medical resources to the school to draw blood.
“I think their staff did an amazing job,” senior Nimisha Jamadagni said. “They were super friendly and made sure everyone was comfortable before, you know, sticking a needle in their arm.”
Participants were required to be 16 years old or older to donate. The rules required parent-permission forms for donors who were 16. Older students could volunteer to donate of their own will.
“We had to take in account the safety of the donors, the timing, and organization,” Vice President Mihira Reddyvari said. “We have a large student body, and we were really grateful for having so many people sign up. We had to make sure that students had parent permission slips and were able to donate only if they met standards to make sure they are safe.”
To incentivize more people to donate, the school offers the opportunity for seniors to earn a graduation cord if they donate blood twice. If they are unable to donate, someone else is allowed to donate in their name with permission from Carter BloodCare.
“The fact that seniors get to show that they have helped their community at graduation is so motivating,” senior Alyssa Valencia said. “I donated my blood this past week, and it felt so good knowing I was doing something, you know, for humanity.”
The drive lasted from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.
“(Organizing the drive) is a service that I like to do,” Factor said. “Blood is so needed and so necessary, and also I think that kids enjoy giving blood because they feel like they’re actually helping their community. It’s not just a ‘I wrote a card to somebody,’ you know, it’s a big deal.”
This article received edits by: Yousuf Ali, Polly Greaves and Kate Duncan.
