CB Veins Be Poppin’

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As fall slowly turns into winter and the excitement of Halloween dies down, so does another thing: the amount of people donating blood. Now you may be thinking, “Why should I even donate blood or care about people donating blood?”

Every three seconds a person is in desperate need of blood and as little as one pint of blood can save as many as the lives of three people. One pint of your blood can save THREE PEOPLE! THAT’S INSANE!

But if you honestly just don’t care about random strangers, then think about your family or your best friend. If your best friend was in need of blood and you weren’t their blood type, wouldn’t you still want them to get it? Wouldn’t you want a stranger to donate blood so that your best friend could have their blood transfusion? So ask yourselves again CB, “Why should I give blood?”

The process to donating blood is fairly easy according to Mrs. Nicole Brousseau and Mrs. Darci Calista, this year’s coordinators of CB’s annual blood drive. All you have to do is sign up, get a permission slip signed if you are under the age of 18, drink lots of water, and show up. This year CB had over 140 students donate blood, which is more than 17.5 gallons saving the lives of over 420 people.

If your scared that it will hurt, don’t be. According to Olivia Franzoia (’18), “there’s really no pain at all. It’s just a little pinch.” But if you are still scared then listen to the advice of your fellow Falcon Lucca Batturaro (’18).

“Don’t focus on the aspect of looking at your blood or the pain of the needle just think of it as something you do for someone else [who is in need].”

Like Lucca, almost all CB students who donate blood do it for one simple reason: to help save lives. Sofia Linares (’18) says she donates because “what if it was me [that needed a blood transfusion]?” Only John Encinas (’17) admits that he started donating blood for the free t-shirts, but has come to learn the importance of donating blood. Others, like Caitlin Duncan (’18), Monica Thayer (’17), and Noemi Rodriguez (’17) say it’s a really good and easy way to give back to the community.

Even though the blood drive at CB has ended this year, it doesn’t mean that you can’t give blood anymore. Just go http://www.bloodsource.org to find about more about blood drives near you or wait till the next blood drive at CB that will occur in the spring. And remember CB, even if you are a first blood donor like Alexandre Silva (’18) or have donated multiple times before like Cruz Solano (’18), giving blood really does save lives.