Just before Winter Break, hundreds of Spartans helped save lives.

Every year, the WS Key Club sponsors a blood drive so that students who wish to participate can donate blood to the Inova Health System. Students older than 16, who turned in a permission form by the deadline, and faculty were assigned a time slot and asked to report to Spartan Hall on the day of the drive.

After filling out a form and reading the provisions, donors were looked over by Inova nurses who measured vitals such as blood pressure and temperature. When the nurses were satisfied that the student was in good health, it was time to give blood. Each person donated a pint, which took approximately half an hour per student.

“It hurt when the needle went in but after that it was just uncomfortable,” said junior Hannah Houghton.

When they were finished, students were required to wait for a half-hour at a refreshments table to make sure nothing went wrong. A few students experienced dizziness and/or nausea, which are common adverse effects of donating, but there were no major health concerns.

“[These health concerns are] actually fairly normal to happen to a small number of donors at all blood drives,” said Technology Education teacher and Key Club sponsor JT Alukonis. “The fantastic staff from Inova is well-trained to deal with such a situation.”

Plenty of people volunteered, but some were absent and some ended up falling through due to the strict provisions that Inova takes to ensure that blood will not hurt the recipient.

Students can be deferred for reasons including dehydration, being sick, having a low iron count, or even having traveled to foreign countries for an extended period of time (as they could have been exposed to certain harmful diseases).

“They didn’t let me donate because I was born in Bulgaria,” said junior Ellyse Bochna. People who have lived in Europe for three or more months are not eligible to donate due to the risk of Mad Cow Disease being communicated to the recipient through the blood.

This drive is the perfect opportunity for students to donate blood who would otherwise not have a chance; some, however, have made a point to donate regularly at their local hospitals.

“I wanted to do the school blood drive, but I donated blood a couple weeks ago,” said senior Thanh Kha. “The only way I could have done it would be if they accepted platelet donations.”

Though organizing a blood drive is a lot of work, Key Club members were able to achieve a lot. They recruited a large numbers of potential donors and worked at the drive, helping to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Alukonis kept in contact with the Inova coordinator in the weeks leading up to the blood drive, and in the end, the event was a tremendous accomplishment.

“It is a large amount of work that is spread around, but it is an incredible cause so everybody loves to help out,” said Alukonis.

There were 120 time slots available throughout the entire day and the initial goal was to fill 90, but WS students far exceeded the expectations and ended up providing 108 successful donations.

“Compared to what they expected from us,” said Alukonis, “it was an incredible success.”