Students at Queen Elizabeth Secondary recruited classmates for a blood and stem cell drive Tuesday (Jan. 21), and some of them also became first-time donors.
A day-long event at the Surrey school gym was planned and hosted by QE Grade 12-ers along with Canadian Blood Services (CBS), One Blood for Life Foundation and Surrey Memorial Hospital Medical Staff Association, all joining forces in an effort save lives.
For CBS, such mobile clinics are crucial for the recruitment of more donors, to meet the growing need for blood and plasma. The winter campaign aims to recruit 450 new donors every day in Canada.
People aged 17 and older can donate, like Armaan Singh Sran did at the school he attends.
"It鈥檚 just like a blood test, nothing too big 鈥� it save lives, you know. Get some doughnuts, get some candy," the student said with a laugh.
"I think it's been like five, 10 minutes (in the chair)," he added. "I just want to do this because it was in my school, so convenient. Why would I not? No downsides."
The day included photo ops with Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and also Spike, mascot for Vancouver Whitecaps FC soccer team.
Students Simone, Arnpreet, Manvi and Avneet are members of the school's One Blood team.
"We actually want to contribute to our community, and just one donation can save, like, three lives," Arnpreet said.
"I've seen a lot of people here from our grad class, so that's great," Manvi added. "I think some people are reluctant because maybe some people have a fear of needles or something, but otherwise I think a lot of people are really willing to donate, which is great for our school and our community."
Right now, on average across the country, the CBS sees around 230 new donors a day, nowhere near its 450 target.
Also at QE Secondary, stem cell swabbing was done to help some of the nearly 1,000 Canadians who await a stem cell transplant.
"It鈥檚 been a great success here today, pretty unbelievable," said Craig Nielsen, community development manager for Canadian Blood Services.
"We have around 50 new donors here today, of the 100 successful donations we'd typically get at an event like this," he added. "We're always looking for spaces to hold a mobile clinic like this, but it's hard to get into a school in the middle of a week when they're running their regular programming and school operations. So for this school, Queen Elizabeth, to be able to to flex their schedule and host us, is an amazing feat itself. We want to make this a more common thing."
The school event involved medical staff who work across the street at Surrey Memorial Hospital, where many patients are in need of blood.
"It鈥檚 incredible to so many young people helping out," said Dr. Amol Lail, an emergency room physician and president of Surrey Memorial Hospital Medical Staff Association.
"It鈥檚 a testament to this city, which always perseveres through difficult times. Seeing this, the future is bright for Surrey."
