On Friday March 21 Powhatan will be holding a blood drive. This event is hosted by SGA and time slots for donating runs from 8 am to 1:45 pm. Doctors from the Red Cross will come into the school and run the blood donations.  Those who sign up to donate will be provided snacks as well as a free tee shirt.

In order to donate you must be 16 or older with a minimum weight of 110 lbs. Along with these those who hope to donate must be in good health conditions. Powhatan SGA is looking for people to sign up at lunches and through the link via Schoology.

There are a lot of questions people have when choosing to donate their blood so we are here to answer them. Prior to donating you should get at least 8 hours of sleep the night before, eat a healthy breakfast or lunch, chose lean proteins (lean meats, cheese, and yogurt) or complex carbohydrates (bread, cereal, and fruit), and drink plenty of water.

The time it takes to draw the blood is typically 8-10 minutes. In this time you lay down and approximately a pint of blood is collected. After the donations make sure to eat a snack, restrain yourself from vigorous activities, and drink extra water. In some cases you may feel dizzy or lightheaded if this happens make sure to stop what you are doing and sit or lay down until you feel better.

So why donate? One donation can save up to three lives. Every blood donor helps patients of all cases. It can help accident and Burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients, and those battling cancer. Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.

Your donations can make a difference so sign up now. You can learn more regarding blood donations  by going to the Red Cross website.

https://www.redcross.org/give-blood.html