Students, staff asked to give blood at annual drive

The annual BHS blood drive hosted by members of HOSA will be held in the new gym Thursday, Oct. 8.

Students over the age of 16 looking to help those in need of blood can call 1-800-REDCROSS, email health sciences teacher Amber Ms.Khalafalla at akhalafalla@tcsnc.org or see a HOSA officer.

Allison Marcial-Duran said she plans to donate. “I want to be someone who helps another person; for me it could be something small, but for them its everything,” she said.

Donors aren’t the only people giving back. The event is also run by members of HOSA, a club at BHS for “students in high school who want to work in the healthcare and biomedical fields,” said member Sarai Miguel.

Giving blood is important because “it feels good when you’re giving stuff to people who are in need, and the blood goes to a good cause, patients in the hospital,” Miguel said.

It can be difficult to grasp how much each blood donation is actually helping trauma patients, cancer patients or anyone who emergently needs blood, in our local hospitals.

“We are currently in our nation’s second emergency blood shortage ever,” Khalafalla said. “Every two seconds someone in our country needs a blood transfusion.”

By Annabelle Lovelace