Photos: On Jan. 26 HOSA held their annual blood drive in the FHN gym. The Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center set up in the gym and their trained phlebotomists worked with students registered to donate blood. Each student donated a pint of blood. Students had to be 17 without parent’s permission and 16 with parent permission to donate. The blood drive lasted from 8 a.m. until just after school ended at 2:20 p.m.. (Photos by Alex Rowe)

HOSA hosted their annual FHN blood drive on Friday, Jan. 26. The blood drive took place in the big gym and started at 8 a.m, and went throughout the school day. Students and staff had the option to sign up during lunches or in science teacher and HOSA sponsor, Matthew Riffee’s classroom. The blood drive was advertised over announcements and HOSA members walking around during lunches.

“To register to give blood, a student must be 16-years-old with a parent’s permission and 17 without a parent’s permission and must weigh at least 110 pounds,” HOSA President Caty Arnold said. “Once at the appointment, the student’s vitals are checked to make sure everything is healthy before blood is drawn.”

On the day of the drive, everyone who signed up to donate blood receives a pass in their first hour to go down to the gym during their time that they signed up for. They then completed paperwork and donated blood. After donating blood everyone received a snack, drink, t-shirt and rested for a couple minutes before going back to class. Members of the HOSA club worked to make sure that the blood drive was a success.

“We’re super proud to be the largest high school blood drive in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area,” Riffee said. “We had 260 students registered and 188 viable units collected. That’s roughly 564 potential lives saved, a record blood drive for Francis Howell North.”

The Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center came to FHN the morning of the blood drive. The phlebotomists, who are trained nurses to draw blood, come and run the blood drive. Every person who gave blood gave a minimum on one pint, while some people had the option to give a double, which would be two pints. On average, each pint of blood saves three lives.

“The experience as a whole went pretty well,” senior Madeline Fields said. “My experience giving blood wasn’t the best, but I am really happy to hear about the success of the blood drive. It is cool to hear about how everyone at our school is so willing to do that for others.”