Senior Laura Jacques, participant of the Memorial Blood Drive, got her blood drawn on Monday in the teacher parking lot in the Memorial Blood Drive bus.

Jacques said she wanted to participate in the blood drive because “I wanted to help out the community.”

Even though Jacques wanted to help out the community. She was very nervous from her previous experience when she got her blood drawn.

The previous time that she got her blood drawn, “The nurse had a very hard time getting in the needle, and it took awhile to get it done,” Jacques said.

On Mondays blood drive, the situation was very similar. The nurse was trying to figure out what arm to use to get the blood from. After multiple tries, Jacques blood was finally getting drawn. After a successful donation, Jacques was able to give three units of blood.

Each unit of blood that is donated is used in hospitals in the area including St. Luke’s in Duluth, both St. Mary’s in Duluth and Superior, and the St. Luke’s Mariner Medical Clinic also located in Superior. Each person that donates gives three units of blood, and one unit of blood saves about one person.

DECA and FBLA hosted the first of four blood drives for the 2018-19 school year. The purpose of the blood drive was to get as much blood donated as they could so that people in need are able to receive blood.

In order to qualify for the blood drive, a mini physical must be passed. The requirements for weight is 110 lbs or more, and the donor has to be born before 2002. 

“Our goal today is for 53 students to participate … I doubt that we will reach 53 students, but you never know,”Kathy Eales, director of the Memorial Blood Drive, said.

At the end of the day, it was concluded that 60 people ended up participating. With that much blood donated, roughly 180 people could potentially be saved from Mondays blood drive.