On Wednesday, March 31, 43 people came into the Kimball high school gymnasium, rolled up their sleeves, held out their arms and donated blood.
The donation was part of a blood drive hosted at the school and put on by United Blood Services (UBS). UBS, is the second largest supplier of blood in the U.S. In the Panhandle region of Nebraska they provide blood to Kimball, Sidney, and Oshkosh.
The drives at the high school began last year. Ron White, Donor Recruitment Representative, said he was looking through UBS donation site history and noticed KHS had never done one.
He contacted the high school and was well received. The drives are done with the help of the KHS chapter of the National Honor Society.
White said NHS officers have been a huge help in setting the drive up. Officers include President Lyle Janicek, Vice president Michael Robinson and Secretary Shawn Nagel.
“We do this with the junior and senior members of the Honor Society,” said White,” This allows the juniors to learn from the seniors.”
Janicek was able to learn how to coordinate the drive from last year’s president, Charles Ferguson.
With the student knowing how to run things, White said they (UBS) are able to come in and quickly set things up.
The student donors are only students ages 16 (with parental permission) and up.
“It is so exciting to work with these kids,” said White,” They are so willing to help out and donate.”
Perhaps it is the spirit of Kimball though. White said that, as a community, Kimball has done an excellent job of donating.
“The community here has always been very receptive and helpful,” White said.
Inside Kimball Gymnasium, chairs were set up to accommodate six donors at a time. Janicek sat on the far right section with his arm extended and tubes running to a mating.
“Lyle is doing a double red cell donation,” White said.
The double red cell donation takes longer than the normal donation process. White explained that the blood is withdrawn and separated from some of the plasma which is in turn returned to the donor.
“The plasma is much colder when it goes back into him,” white said while pointing to Janicek’s arm.
White explained that the double red cell blood is used in cases when a large amount of blood is needed.
“This is the blood that would be given to accident victims or people in need of surgery,” he said.
As for pain, Janicek said there was none.
Across from Janicek Kaitlin Moritz and Whitney Lockwood are wrapping up the donation process. Both girls must take a seat on the bleachers and wait for 15 minutes.
“Donors must wait for 15 minutes because this is when any sort of reaction typically happens,” White said.
The girls enjoy some cookies and juice that was donated for the donors.
At this drive White said there is 21 new donors. Although happy to have them, he knows not all of them will be able to donate.
“Each donor must go through a screening process before being allowed to donate,” he said.
The potential donors fill out a questionnaire and then sit through a confidential interview with a UBS staff person. Once the interview is complete the potential donors is given either an “ok” or a “nay.”
Some immediate disqualifies include, tattoos within the last 12 months, having been in a country where malaria may be an issue, or a country where Mad Cow disease is common. Also, persons infected with blood borne pathogens are disqualified.
Preston Lukassen sat to the right of Janicek and was also doing a double red cell donation. Lukassen agreed with Janicek in that the process didn’t hurt. He is a first time donor and was happy to be able to do it.
“Lyle conned me into doing it,” Lukassen said with a smile.
“Besides,” he said with an impish grin, “it gets me out of class.”
The drive at Kimball High School saw donations from 43 donors. In total, 47 units were harvested.
