Park High held a blood drive on Friday, October 12 in the school G-wing hallway. This year, the attendance was different from previous years. According to event coordinator Miya Tennant, even though the sign-up roster was completely filled, which has not happened the last few years, not everyone who signed up attended. The causes for the lack of attendance were that some students forgot, others could not get there, and some who attended were unable to donate because they had stick and poke tattoos.

Students who had these stick and poke tattoos were unable to donate because it is against the law to donate if you did not go to a professional tattoo artist. The self-tattoos can cause diseases and infections that can be transferred through blood donations. Some of the diseases that can be transferred include, HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and staph infections.

Before you can donate your blood, the nurses ask questions to make sure it is safe for you and the people who will receive your blood. They make sure you have eaten and are hydrated. They also ask questions such as if you have or ever had a stick and poke tattoo or used needles on yourself in any other way. After they have made sure that it is safe to take your blood, they take you to a seat and prepare you. Then, they give you a ball to squeeze while they begin drawing your blood.

This year, there were 20 donors who signed up, but only 13 of them actually donated. For every donor, we received one unit of blood, so we ended up with 13 units. These 13 units of blood helped save a total of 39 lives.