Four times per year, students from Fluvanna County High School can do something amazing to directly save lives: donate blood. FCHS works with Virginia Blood Services (VBS), which then sends the blood to UVA and Martha Jefferson hospitals. “This is the primary reason we use VBS, as the blood stays local,” said Assistant Principal Wanda Elliott, who helps coordinate the blood drives at FCHS.

VBS is one of several organizations in the greater Charlottesville area that help satisfy the ongoing need for blood transfusions due to accidents, surgeries, and chronic illnesses. Perhaps the best-known national organization is the American Red Cross, which is unlike other European and American blood banks because it doesn’t require patients to find another donor to replace the blood they used.

According to the Red Cross, every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood, and about 21 million blood transfusions take place per year. The blood type O Negative is the highest in demand because it is the rarest blood type in the world, occurring among only 7% of the U.S. population. Human blood cannot be manufactured or created by machine, so those in need must rely on donations, and each donation will take about one pint of the donor’s blood.

As a result, one organization, United Blood Services (UBS), has a Donor Hero Rewards Program that encourages members to give blood as often as they can each year.

The “Hero” program claims to help “find the Hero in you” while also helping others. It rewards donors with points each time they donate blood, and the points add up so that they can be redeemed for prizes, such as t-shirts and gift cards, all while giving donors the knowledge that they are saving people’s lives. And since a pint of blood can be divided into multiple components, such as plasma and platelets, a single donation can help multiple people, not just one.

It typically takes 10-12 minutes to give blood, but a little over an hour overall when you add the check-in time and recovery time before you leave. After giving blood, it is suggested that you avoid heavy physical activity and drink lots of water. According to Elliott, FCHS did not have enough people attend the last two school blood drives in order to meet their goal, so she wants students to know that the next date will be held on April 19. This is a change from the original date since that date conflicted with the Senior Trip. The new date will allow seniors to give blood and attend the Senior Trip on April 26.

“If the Seniors came out, we would surpass our goal,” said Elliott, who noted that Juniors are the class which traditionally gives the most blood. 

If you are interested in giving blood, you must sign up ahead of time due to changes regarding the VBS permission slips. The requirements are that the donor must be at least 16 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds. If you want to see other people’s pictures or post your own blood drive pictures, the hashtag for Fluvanna County High School’s blood drives is #flucosgive. Sign ups will for the April blood drive will start in mid-March, so listen for the announcements.

For information about donating blood, check out these links:

Virginia Blood Services: http://www.vablood.org/.

Red Cross: http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/blood-facts-and-statistics.

United Blood Services: http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/.