North Augusta High School recently held a Shepeard's blood drive for students and faculty. Katie Beth Cannon, a junior at North Augusta High School, said “Holding a blood drive is important because it helps save the lives of those in our communities. During COVID, everyone has been negatively impacted. Any way that North Augusta High School can help will be impactful, and this is one of the best ways for North Augusta High School to do that.” All the blood that is donated by the donors is used to save three lives. The donors get “food, a t-shirt, and the feeling that you helped save a life!” Ann Marie Partl, a sophomore at North Augusta High School, stated.
The drive would not be able to happen without the many volunteers; Partl informed us that “this year the Shepeard blood bus came so we signed people in, gave them food and walked them on the bus. Next, the blood drive workers tested to make sure you were healthy, then they got your blood. Once you were done, you would come back into the school and drink sugary drinks, eat, and rest a little bit before we let you back to class.” Cannon was “one of the chairpersons of the North Augusta High School Blood Drive, so I planned the event, planned signups, helped with signups, and helped organize donors at the event itself.” Emma Carter, a sophomore at North Augusta High School “helped sign people in, made sure they had the specific things they needed to give blood (ID and permission form), made sure they felt right and that they had a pass back to class.” One overall sentiment from our volunteers was that it is important to have students help events such as these run smoothly.
The Shepeard Blood Bus parked out by the cafeteria throughout the day where generous NAHS students donated their blood to help someone in need.
Photo credit: Sean Fowley
Cannon states that, “some students were nervous to be donating, specifically first-time donors. However, everything went extremely smoothly. We remind all donors that they will be under quality care with Shepeard nurses, and that they will ensure everything is okay.” There was, however, a lot of students who were not nervous at all. Carter said “Most of the students I dealt with felt fine after and had no urges to pass out or getting lightheaded. They were all ready to finish their day like normal afterwards!” Partl stated that “most people felt fine and just needed to eat and rest for 15 minutes before walking back to class, only a couple people felt sick, but it went away once they rested.”
When asked around how many people gave blood this year, Cannon stated, “With two blood drives instead of just one, we believe that we had many more donors then we have at previous drives.” Cannon also said that, “the next blood drive will be sometime this Spring, and I believe we will be doing it with the Red Cross instead of with Shepeard, as they have reached out to us. If you will be 16 years old or older this Spring, sign up!”
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