Rhode Island High School Students saving thousands of lives
Several high schools in Rhode Island are being honored for their exemplary performances in hosting and running blood drives in which students, faculty and staff have literally saved thousands of lives. In the last five years, blood donations at high schools have increased by 67 percent.
The Rhode Island Blood Center’s High School Hero Challenge, in its fifth year, recognizes high schools for the amount of blood collected at high school drives, and for their part in saving lives in the community.
High School students and faculty across Rhode Island account for a significant portion of the blood collected each year by the Rhode Island Blood Center – 6,655 pints in the last school year. Blood donations have steadily increased since the first year of the program, when high schools accounted for 3,984 pints collected.
Students and faculty from several of the award winning schools were honored at a program at the Blood Center on Nov. 19, where they were praised for their efforts by Dr. Midge Sabatini, manager, coordinated school health program at the Rhode Island Department of Education.
“Students are often recognized for athletic or academic achievements, but today we’re honoring students across our state for doing something incredibly special, incredibly important – saving lives,” said Glenn Halvarson, Community Education Manager for the Rhode Island Blood Center. “So often we hear comments that students are self-centered, and lack concern for their communities. Here’s a prime example of how these kids, and their teachers and other school administrators and staff, are responding wonderfully to community needs.”
Halvarson said that each pint of blood collected is turned into three separate blood products – red cells, plasma and platelets – and that each can be donated to different recipients, meaning that each pint of blood collected has the potential to save three lives. That means that high schools in Rhode Island were literally responsible for saving nearly 20,000 lives last year.
Winning schools are:
- Schools with 250 or more seniors: First place – Pilgrim High School, Warwick; second place – Woonsocket High School and Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center; third place – Chariho Regional High School, Wood River Junction.
- Schools with 150 to 250 seniors: First place – Portsmouth High School; second place – Johnston High School; third place – Burrillville High School.
- Schools with less than 150 seniors: First place – Feinstein High School, Providence; second place – Moses Brown School, Providence; third place – Blackstone Academy, Pawtucket
