It was another successful Senior Blood Drive as Walt Whitman High School held its second blood donation event of the school year on March 6th. Organized by the Senior Class in partnership with the New York Blood Center, the annual Spring Blood Drive continues this nearly 20-year school tradition of community service and leadership.

This event matched the success of last November’s blood drive with 105 units collected. Of the more than 100 students and staff who signed up to give blood, 16 of them gave what’s called a double red cell donation. It’s a specialized process where 2 units of red blood cells are collected in one session while returning platelets, plasma, and saline to the donor. The session takes about twice as long, around 35 minutes, as compared to a standard 15-minute whole blood donation time. Red blood cells are the most frequently used blood component and collecting double the amount in one donation helps when the blood supply is critically low.

 
The event is led by Senior Class Advisor Keith Goldman and a dedicated team of 40 student blood drive captains. These student leaders are responsible for everything from recruiting donors to managing the logistics of the drive in the South Gym. This was Goldman’s second blood drive since taking over as advisor to the senior class last year. "I hear stories now from colleagues and students every day about how blood donations saved their loved ones. So now it's their chance to give back and support this great tradition. And we’re here–we’re doing it. We’re making it happen," said Mr. Goldman.

Principal Dr. John Murphy is proud that his students see the bigger picture and look for ways to help their community. “I'm lucky to live and work in a district where I have amazing teachers and students who are empathetic beings. And teachers who show that it's not just about education, it's about raising a whole child and a whole adult and making them well-rounded human beings when they leave us,” said Dr. Murphy.

In the past five years, post-pandemic, Whitman students have donated more than 1,200 pints of blood.

New York Blood Center says close to 2,000 donations are needed each day for patients in the New York/New Jersey area.  One pint of blood can save three lives.  Donated blood can be separated into its various components - red cells, platelets, or plasma.  Transfusions are needed by cancer patients, accident, burn, or trauma victims, newborn babies, transplant recipients, surgery patients, and many more.  The blood type most often requested by hospitals is type O.

Thank you to everyone who turned out and rolled up their sleeves to both make this event run smoothly and donate blood!