Students sit restlessly in plastic chairs, looking anxiously at those giving blood, searching for any sign of pain. The sight of blood and needles often make students squeamish, but they overcome their anxiety and donate to this noble cause anyway. Year after year, Jesuit receives great participation in its Blood Drive, and this was no different.
This year the Jesuit Blood Drive gathered 115 units of blood, meeting its goal. This long-standing tradition has gathered the blood of many Jesuit students, faculty, and parents in order to save the lives of countless people. However this charity does not come without sacrifice, according to the coordinator of the event, Andrew Fleming, “a couple students got woozy, and 1 or 2 kids fainted; however everyone recovered and when compared to the potency and importance of every single donation, the risk is minimal.”
The students also give because they receive community service credits, but most students give blood out of sheer generosity. Alexander Koshakji ’15 gave his reason: “The service hours were a big incentive but really I think I’m healthy, young, and strong enough to afford this and it can save lives.” Indeed lives are saved, as one donation of blood will save about three people.
There were two types of donations available: Whole Blood and Double Red Blood Cell. In Whole Blood, they take a straight donation of 1 unit of blood, while in Double Red they take the blood, separate the plasma and platelets out and put them back in the body, getting two units of blood per donation. This process takes around 90 minutes with the actual donation lasting 35 of those minutes. This led to time troubles, because many kids had to go to class or miss it in order to finish their donations, but all was fixed and students were able to get back to class.
Fleming commented on the slight panic early in the day, “Honestly, I was worried we wouldn’t make it to 100 in the morning because most of the seniors were busy doing their service,” but as the day grew on, seniors pulled through in great numbers to support the cause. These blood drives are literally “life-savers,” and Fleming encourages anyone to take part in them “through Jesuit or not,” and hopefully next year’s senior class can donate as much as this year’s seniors did.
