Carter Blood Care and HOSA students will host a blood drive for students in the gym today, March 28.

Students must be 16-years-old and older to participate in the blood drive and will receive a hall pass from their teacher for their specific time slot.

“Carter Blood Care is the company that’s coming to draw your blood,” senior and HOSA co-president Sofia Date said. “They’re really prepared, and they’re professionals. They do this everyday.”

All blood donated to Carter Blood Care will be given back to the community, Carter Blood Care coordinator Sarah Huntsman said.

“Carter is the community blood center,” she said. “We service about 90 percent of the local hospitals, and so everything that is donated to Carter stays local within the community.”

HOSA students recommend that high schoolers who give blood should eat beforehand.

“I would also drink a lot of water that way your veins are more dilated,” Date said. “It happens sometimes if you don’t eat, but there is a possibility of you passing out. You just get a little light headed. People get a little bit nauseous, but it’s mostly because you just donated a pint of blood.”

Students who donate blood will first have to check-in at the gym during their assigned time slot, and then will undergo the “screening process.”

“That’s a series of questions based upon your health history, medicines you take and travel,” Huntsman said. “You will complete a mini physical where we test your hemoglobin levels, your temperature and your blood pressure.”

After the process is complete, Carter Blood Care will offer juice and cookies so students can rehydrate.

“The whole process takes about 45 minutes from start to finish,” Huntsman said. “The longest part of that process is the screening process, where we get your health history.” 

Anyone can donate blood, but students who are 16-years-old must have a parent sign the permission form.

“I think it’s a really cool opportunity, because it has become a lot more common for schools to do stuff like this, where students can be helping and giving back to the community,” Date said. “Only one pint of blood saves three lives, so you’re doing a lot more than just saving one life. Even though that’s pretty awesome itself.”