Wismar Hill Primary School gives back with blood drive

In  its effort to give back to its community, the Wismar Hill Primary School hosted a Blood Drive on Tuesday, in collaboration with the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC)

The blood drive which was held at the Wismar Hill Primary School saw teachers, ancillary staff and even parents donating blood.

According to the Headmaster of the Wismar Hill Primary School, Kemraj Aharamawattie, the event was the first of its kind to be hosted by the school.

He noted that the idea came from one of the school’s teachers, Luana Boyce, who thought it would be a good gesture to give back to the community through a blood drive.

“We have one teacher at the school who would normally donate blood. She approached me and said Sir, it would be a nice thing if we could have the teachers of the school donating blood as a way of giving back to the community and based on that, the teachers were encouraged and we decided that we were going to do the initiative,” Aharamawattie explained.

The Headmaster noted that the school will make the event an annual one.

In an interview with INFO 10, Teacher at Wismar Hill Primary, Luana Boyce, related that she has been a blood donor for three years and it has been a life changing experience.

“I always liked giving back in any way possible and I’m not rich so I know I do not have finances to donate so I know the blood bank is always in need of blood which is why I decided to start donating blood,” she said.

Boyce added, “Donating blood also has great health benefits because personally I use to get a pain in my neck and as soon as I donated blood, I realised the pain was gone and have not gotten that pain in years.”

The teacher is also encouraging other schools to save lives by hosting blood drives in the future.

According to Phlebotomist Technician attached to the Linden Hospital Complex, Cassie Jordan, giving blood regulates the donor’s blood pressure and cholesterol. It also allows for the rejuvenation of new red blood cells and it decreases chances of getting a heart attack.

Jordan added that blood is always needed for all blood groups and just one donation can save up to three lives.