Atherton students and professionals from the Health Science Academy organized a charity event centered on the American Red Cross, in which students donated blood to help save others’ lives. The charity was a full-school-day event in which students switched shifts to assist student donors while professionals helped draw the donors’ blood.
In order for the Red Cross to feel successful and meet hospital patients’ needs, they set their goals for the amount of student blood donations they would get within the school day.
This charity brought Tammy Ritchie, who had been the Red Cross’s account manager for about 37 years and is responsible for organizing blood drives, to Atherton High School. With a cooperative team of staff and students, they were able to achieve their donation goal of 42 units.
“Our account managers go through lots of training to constantly make sure that we meet our hospital patient needs. We try to go for at least 10 to 20% participation in every business school, and we do really well at that,” Ritchie said.
With Ritchie’s help across the day, the students of Atherton’s Health Science Academy were prepared for the Blood Drive.
Though health science students weren’t able to access blood draws—only professionals were allowed—Atherton students helped assist by registering the patients outside and making sure that they were prepared.
Students could be both donors and volunteers who attended the Blood Drive with a specific shift.
Aiden Michael Tilton (11) participated in the October Blood Drive as a Power Red Donor. Tilton has experience with donating blood last year, previously donating whole blood. His consistency in donating blood for the Red Cross expresses his willingness to potentially donate more blood and potentially a liver in the future for the American Red Cross.
Elena Niemeyer (11) donated whole blood for the Red Cross. She also worked at registration and found replacements for students who didn’t show up. This was Niemeyer’s first time donating, and she donated power blood; she called it “mentally scarring” at first, but at the end of the drawing, she felt better.
“I really hope my blood will get to someone who needs it,” Niemeyer said. “I don’t know what
type I am, but either way, like, there’s such a need for blood in hospitals just around the whole country; I hope it can get to someone who needs it.”
“I really hope to make a difference in people’s lives that need blood. I feel like there are a lot of people that need blood, and they deserve to have life-saving measures,” Tilton said. “I want to do as much as I possibly can to help the lives of other people, as long as I’m able to.”
HOSA President, Almir Memic (11), took the student lead role of the Red Cross charity event. Memic’s role for the charity event was to organize and assist the blood drive with the other professionals. This is his first year being the student lead, but he has volunteered for the blood drives the last couple of years.
Memic wants to go into healthcare for his future; his work and experience within the Blood Drive helped him get some of the experience he needed.
“All the Red Cross is always about helping people, whether that’s through blood donations or whether there are other programs like disaster relief. I think it’s really important to me” Memic said.
His work is appreciated by other students from the Health Science Academy. As he worked hard to get the charity information around school and help others get ready for the blood drive.