Niles West Red Cross Club hosted its annual blood drive on Monday, April 22. The blood drive was open to anyone 16 or older. These donors were able to register with the club’s sponsor, Nathan Noparstak, outside the cafeteria during lunch periods.

“There [has been] a blood shortage since COVID. People have been less likely to donate blood due to health concerns. Hospitals need this blood to be used in several medical processes. One of the benefits of doing a blood drive is that we can help provide hospitals and different medical facilities with useful blood in life-saving procedures. They need to use certain blood types in certain medical procedures,” Noporstak said.

The blood drive took place from 9:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. Each blood donation was a scheduled appointment that was made ahead of time during registration. Noparstak along with members from the club and the Red Cross set up the event in the student commons with prior preparation to ensure everything was working. Crystal Martinez, the team lead from the Red Cross made sure that everything was set up properly before the drive began.

“There is a lot into it. It takes a good strong team to come to the site. We set up our beds and our booths. From there we make sure we have all of our equipment and make sure that it is up to date. Then people come in and we register them. As long as [prospective donors] meet the right criteria and pass their physical exams we put them on the donor bed and then have them donate,” Martinez said.

A set of staff members including nurses came to Niles West from the Red Cross to run the blood drive. After setting up and donations were collected, donors were given a snack as well as something to drink in a separate area. Donors are encouraged to drink plenty of water and eat a filling meal before and after giving blood. After donating blood, senior,  Mika Manansala reflected on her experience of giving blood for the first time.

“For me personally, I got a little lightheaded but I think that’s because I didn’t eat as much but besides that, it was totally fine. I was really nervous because this was my first time giving blood but I was sure it was going to be fine, ” Manansala said.

After the donations were collected, they are sent to a medical facility to be tested. These tests ensure that the blood given is in a proper state before being used. From there the blood is able to be used wherever it is needed.

“The Red Cross has a blood processing system where essentially they going to test the blood to see what type of blood each individual has which is one of the benefits, the Red Cross will actually send an email out to say what blood type each individual has. They will also do health tests to see if the blood has any viruses or anything that could be harmful,” Noparstak said.