Stuyvesant High School held its first blood drive of the year on Thursday, January 5.  It took place in the first floor atrium and was organized by the Blood Drive Coordinators, seniors Lisa Qiu and Tong Niu, with help from Coordinator of Student Affairs Lisa Weinwurm and the Student Union. Doctors and nurses from the New York Blood Center handled the task of collecting blood.

Students had to be 16 years or older in order to participate, with 16-year-old donors requiring a parental consent form. Students were able to donate during the school day, from third to 10th period. Due to lengthy lines, students were asked to obtain permission slips from two teachers whose classes they would miss. Students were asked to reserve their lunch period and the period either before or after their lunch period, to ensure that they missed the least amount of class.

Donors had to fill out a 75-question form with their height, weight, and other medical information, and get their blood checked for appropriate iron and pressure levels, and pulse rate. Overall, 41 students were turned away. Those who met the various requirements had to wait for medical personnel to prepare them for blood collection. Student were each expected to give one pint of blood. Afterward, they were escorted to a table with juice, snacks, and pizza. This year’s ALYX donors also received teddy bears and candy for their participation in the drive.

Students with a hemoglobin count of 40 and above were eligible to give more than one pint of blood. These students were sent to the ALYX Component Collection System for donation. ALYX machines collect twice as much blood as is collected normally. The machines take blood and plasma from a donor, but separate the red blood cells from the mixture, returning the rest of the fluids to the donor’s body. This year, there were a large number of ALYX donors, which greatly increased the total amount of donated blood. In comparison to the 159 pints collected at the last drive, 171 pints were collected this year; 54 of these were drawn using ALYX machines.

Advertising for this year’s blood drive greatly impacted the final turnout. The coordinators posted many signs around the school, created a Facebook event titled “2012 Annual Stuyvesant Blood Drive!” and visited classrooms a couple weeks before the event to spread the word.

Unlike in previous years, when students had to wait for up to three periods to donate blood, this year’s blood drive functioned at a fast pace through most of the seven periods. “I donated during periods three and four, and there was a fairly short wait time,” senior Beatrice Huang said. “It all took just around 10 minutes.”

During periods five and six, though, when the majority of the staff took a lunch break, lines grew longer. “There was a lot of buildup in waiting to get the medical forms checked,” senior Viktoria Hallikaar said. “There were only six stations where one could get blood checked. If there had been more, the wait time would have gone significantly down.”

This year, 184 students registered to donate blood. “It’s the least I can do to help,” Huang said. “It’s not a big deal for me, but in the end, it’s very worthwhile and rewarding to know that it can save lives.”