HOSA plans to host a blood drive to help out communities with the American Red Cross. These blood drives will take place every season, September, January, and April specifically, and are available to anyone who wishes to help out the community.
Before the blood drive begins, HOSA prepares a month beforehand to prep all of their set-up and the rewards the students get for donating blood. They set a table out in the commons for any student to apply for the Blood Drive. “We plan this a Month in advance,” Vice President Isabella Scott said. “We set up sheets and the tables and we also work with Advance Culinary to prepare cookies and rewards.” Materials they use to prepare are Google Classroom for their schedule and materials that they need. HOSA also uses Canva to advertise its blood drive to the school and attract students around the school.
After getting their applications, all of the preparation for their blood drive is prepared in the North Gym on Friday of each season and it will run all day. Students leave their classrooms and head to the north gym to have their blood donated, they will have to arrive 15 minutes early for preparation. “We will usually check their Iron Level and Blood pressure,” Advisor, Melissa Levine said. “We also check if they have enough calories, usually 600 calories, and make sure they have eaten heavy foods and drink a lot of water.” After the process, they begin the donating process which takes about 5-15 minutes. They usually take and donate 48 units of blood, and the blood can go anywhere in America.
Once the donation process is finished, the students are sent back to their class and rewarded with the cookies that the Culinary students made. Students sign up mainly to skip a certain class that they dislike but they also get free stuff in the end which encourages them to contribute with their donation.
