SARAH EPSTEIN / KAISER HIGH SCHOOL Xavier Koide took part in the blood drive at Kaiser High School in February.

Blood drive held at school yields the gift of life

Kaiser students learn why some cannot donate but others can

Nothing is more vital to human survival than blood. Yet 4.5 million Americans need blood each year.

The Blood Bank of Hawaii came to Kaiser Feb. 28 to collect blood from students, faculty, and other donors.

The blood bank needs around 200 blood donors every day to meet the demand of Hawaii's hospitals. Patients who have cancer, anemia and heart diseases need blood, Not to mention people undergoing surgeries, victims of car accidents and women who give birth.

"We needed to educate people that blood is the only resource that cannot be duplicated," said Rinda Fernandes, student activities coordinator and coordinator of the Kaiser blood drive. "Science has not found a way to make it, but so many people need it."

Fernandes, along with Kaiser's National Honor Society, started planning the blood drive in December.

"We organized the facilities, donations of blood, food, and money, and (took care of) the setup, cleanup and refreshments," said Fernandes. "The NHS members each had to get five donors, and they hustled to get people to turn in their forms."

This year, 98 students, teachers and staff were recruited as blood donors, not to mention the walk-in donors from the community. For these people to be able to donate, they had to be 17 years old (with parental consent) or 18 and older, weigh 110 pounds or heavier, go through a blood test, take a questionnaire and answer confidential questions from nurses. If a potential donor can't meet these requirements, he or she is deferred.

Last year, 30 people were deferred. By the second hour of this year's blood drive, seven people were deferred.

"I'm a little concerned about the number of deferrals so early in the drive," said Fernandes.

Junior Garett Sato was deferred because he was sick.

"I was disappointed that I couldn't contribute to my community," he said.

Deferment because of an illness is understandable. However, senior Kyle Niiro was deferred because he coughed once.

"All I did was cough and they said I couldn't donate," said Niiro. "That was kind of sad because I was looking forward to donating blood."

Recently tattooed junior James Decker also was deferred from the blood drive, even though his tattoo was done by a professional.

"I was a little upset about it," he said. "But I knew where they were coming from, so I wasn't that upset."

Biology teacher Joshua Lawrence, however, went to the Amazon jungle and was then deferred from the blood drive because of the possibility of transferring a disease.

"I was a little disappointed that they didn't want my blood," said Lawrence, "because it's clean. But it's to be safer."

Among the donors who were not deferred was senior Jonathan Chin.

"My friend actually pressured me into this," he said. "But (another) friend of mine had a pin that said 'Blood Donator' and he said he donated six gallons of blood, and I said 'Wow!' so I wanted to donate."

Although the process of donating blood can be a little uncomfortable, most of the donors feel good about it.

"It's satisfying," said senior Eric Fleming. "You know your donation is going to save lives."

The goal for Kaiser's blood drive was 60 pints. The actual amount of blood drawn exceeded that goal by 24 pints for a grand total of 84. Each pint saves the lives of three people, so 84 pints of blood can help 252 people.

"It's a great thing to meet target goals," said Fernandes. "But even if we didn't make the goal, we still make a difference. Even if we only got one pint of blood, we would still save three lives."