Student Council and Vitalant held a blood drive at Palo Verde on November 28 from 8am to 1:30pm in the Auxiliary Gym.

In order to participate, a student must set up an appointment, meet certain height, weight, and age requirements, and get a teacher to sign a slip to let them out of class.

Donors were served juice and cookies after donating. The event achieved a total of 57 appointments, with a goal of 35 units (about 35 pints of blood). The gym had several stations set up with people working at each one.

The blood drive at Palo Verde is a regular event, and dates are set in summer. The next one will be on April 12th. That blood drive will feature coupons for free Raising Cane’s. Usually the events last multiple days, but this event lasted only one day.

The event was hosted by Vialant, formerly United Blood Services.

“We have 127 centers throughout the country. We started as an umbrella organization for blood banks in World War II. It was the second largest blood collector in the country… We have 14 different brands under our roof,” Ron Royler, the supervisor from Vitalant at the event said of the non-profit.

Royler is very passionate about the necessity of donating blood.

“My brother was a hemophiliac, died at the age of 29 in 1990 of tainted blood products, which was an issue back then. 10,000 hemophiliacs died in the late 80s/early 90s from HIV and hepatitis carried by blood products. He had to have a transfusion every day, sometimes twice a day, and so I really felt it was important to bring people in to donate blood and to treat them with all the dignity and excitement that the recipients have,” he confided.

He also stressed the importance of teenagers showing up and donating blood.

“One, you get out of school for a little bit of time and you get you some cookies! Also, it gets you involved in your community, it makes you feel a part of a group and a culture, which is important, and about 20% of the blood products in the country come from high schoolers. It also sets the tone for their lives. Probably about 10% of them will continue to donate blood throughout their life. And the others, when I talk to classes, I just tell them I work at the centers, people come in and say ‘My grandma has leukemia,’ or ‘My cousin was in a car wreck, he needs a lot of blood, and I just remembered i donated blood in high school years ago, and I realized I can help.’ So that’s what I always try to get people to remember. ‘I can help,’” he said.

Ivy Chipman, Palo’s 2018-2019 Student Body President, also thinks it’s important that students donate blood.

“Last time we did this, we did it in October. It was after the October 1st shooting and it had a great turnout. It’s always a great cause so I definitely think you should donate blood,” she said.

One student who gave blood, Lorin Tseu, shared this sentiment.

“I’m pretty much a universal blood type. Because I want to work in the medical field, and I’m in a hospital all the time, I know the importance of having blood. If I have and I’m willing to donate then I’m going to… If you’re eligible and you’d like to, donating blood is a really good thing to give.”