By Sai Sailaja Seshadri

Staff Writer

@saisailu97

The Coppell High School Red Jackets hosted its second blood drive of the year on Feb. 13. Teaming with Carter BloodCare, the Red Jackets, along with their advisor Shelly Redding, transformed the small gym into an area where staff and students could give back to the community.

The first step in the blood donation process is that every student goes through a checkup to ensure that their hemoglobin levels, temperature and blood pressure will allow them to donate. After, they are given a questionnaire to complete which includes information such as where they have travelled in the last three years and if they are on any prescription medication.

Donors can give either blood, for which the process takes 8-12 minutes, or plasma, which usually takes an hour or longer.

Erica Brown of Carter Bloodcare thinks every person who has the ability to donate blood should do it at least once, as it is something that can help another human being.

“Every time you donate, you can save up to three lives,” Brown said. “Sometimes the blood that is donated can even save the life of a baby.”

The Red Jackets got the chance to help out by ensuring that the donors were all taken care of. Senior Red Jacket Drew Louis thinks running the blood drives this year was an excellent learning experience.

“It’s been fun working with Carter BloodCare this year,” Louis said. “It’s a really cool experience, getting to learn about how blood donation works, the different blood types and seeing the process firsthand.”