South Broward Blood Drive
Daniela Garcia of the HOSA Club quenching her thirst after hard work volunteering for the blood drive.
November 5, 2018
When it comes to helping people out, South Broward High School is ready to take a needle in the right direction. Last month about 50 students participated in the Annual Blood Drive hosted by OneBlood.
“I’m helping people help save lives.” Sean Karl, a nurse for the OneBlood drive, said. The consensus among other nurses is donating for a blood drive is an amazing phenomenon especially when it’s young people that is making the difference. As Mr. Homme said, students donating blood is dynamic.
OneBlood is a non-profit organization which provides safe and affordable blood to more than 200 hospitals among Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. On OneBlood’s website, there is a locator to provide a list of local donation sites closest to you. Every unit of blood undergoes more than a dozen tests to ensure it is safe for transfusion.
Approximately 5 million Americans every year require a blood transfusion for a plethora of reasons such as a severe infection or liver disease which requires a plasma transfusion; an illness such as kidney disease or cancer that causes anemia which requires a red blood cell transfusion; or bleeding disorders such as hemophilia or thrombocytopenia which requires platelets and clotting factor transfusion.
The type of blood most often requested by hospitals is O-negative. Type O-negative blood is also known as the universal donor because any person can receive a blood transfusion with O-negative blood. Its counterpart, the universal recipient of blood, is AB-positive type blood. AB-positive blood can receive blood from any blood type.
The next blood drive will occur in November and David Gonzales, a OneBlood supervisor, is eager to see more young faces getting ready to change the world.
