Amid ongoing blood shortages, senior Ben Garcia decided to donate blood after becoming aware of a blood drive being held at Lane. 

“I’ve donated blood before,” Garcia said. “It’s just something that I like to do, as often as I can. There’s just a serious need for blood.” 

Many organizations such as Vitalant and the American Red Cross have reported a large percentage drop in their blood supply and urge people to donate. 

According to the American Red Cross, the new year brings challenges as severe winter weather as well as current wildfires have led to blood drive cancellations and forced thousands of blood collections to be cancelled. 

A joint statement was made by America’s Blood Centers in August of last year stating that the nation’s blood supply was strained and urging eligible individuals to donate blood or platelets in order to have a supply that meets patients’ needs, according to Vitalant. 

The organization had reached out to Lane’s Director of Culture and Climate, Gabriela Escobar. 

“Vitalant reached out to me to discuss the possibility to start a blood drive — this was the first one I hosted and I took it on because I am aware that there is a blood shortage,” Escobar said. “It’s important for blood banks to have a supply in order to save lives.”

The recent blood drives are not entirely new to Lane as Key Club had previously hosted blood drives prior to Covid and Escobar said she intends on continuing to host these blood drives at Lane. 

“I think it’s an easy way to help people and get our students involved,” Escobar said. 

As sponsor of SMILEY club, Escobar mentioned the blood drive to the club as they are always searching for volunteer opportunities. 

“The purpose of SMILEY Club is to gather student volunteers and attend community service projects hosted by local Chicago organizations,” Co-President Sophie Wu said in an email. “We serve to make a greater impact on the society around us through our actions. We became involved with the blood drive when Ms. Escobar reached out to us and asked if we would like to help out.” 

During the blood drive members of SMILEY club helped donors check in and out and handed out snacks. 

“It was a pretty fun and meaningful experience as students were able to make a greater impact on the lives around them while also being able to be with their friends,” Wu said. 

Organizing the blood drive became challenging for Escobar due to limited space. 

“The first blood drive was in December and we had to share the stage with Ms. Hesse, shout out to her for making it work while club photos were happening,” Escobar said. “The space was also really cold and that made it a little hard since the blood has to be kept within a certain temperature.  

After an email was sent to students with information on the blood drive including  a consent form and standard information on donating blood, students were directed to the Vitalant website to schedule their appointment. Students were able to donate blood on Dec. 3 and Jan. 6 and walkins were also accepted. 

In order to donate blood, students need to be at least 16 with parental consent, meet a weight requirement, and iron levels were tested to make sure everyone was healthy enough to donate, according to Escobar. 

Students also answer a questionnaire regarding their health, and they have their temperature and pulse taken. 

“If your pulse is too high, they will make you sit for a little bit because it has to be under 100, that’s just the hemoglobin content in your blood,” Garcia said. “That’s just, it’s a finger prick, and they test just some basics like vitals. And then they take you over, they hook you up to the needle, and it’s 15 minutes, maybe you just kind of sit there, you relax, you are squeezing like a stress ball to keep the blood flowing. And then that’s about it. It’s really easy.”

Garcia said his experience at Lanes blood drive was very good. 

“I’ve had some not so great experiences donating blood,” Garcia said. “There was one time I didn’t drink enough water and they couldn’t get it through the tube. I passed out one time. So it was in comparison to some of my other ones. It was really good. It went really smoothly.”