ALPENA — A blood drive at Alpena High School gave students a first hand experience to observe patient care.

Amy Attwell, health occupations teacher at Alpena High School, partnered with Versiti Blood Centers to host a blood drive at AHS in recognition of Kindness Month. Attwell said this is their first annual blood drive.

According to Atwell, she has 33 health occupation students who were able to participate in hosting the blood drive.

AHS states that the course curriculum prepares students who are interested in post-secondary programs such as physician, physician assistant, nursing, nurse aide, and other health related careers.

Atwell explained that the blood drive gave her students the opportunity to observe the process of blood donation while also giving the kids hands-on experience. She explained that her students were able to help with checking-in participants, conducting some pre-screening, and helping in the recovery center.

Atwell said that her students tended to blood donor participants by providing snacks and drinks and ensuring that donors were recovering after the blood donation.

“The blood drive gives them a hands-on feel for patient care,” Attwell said.

Heather Dixon, Versiti Blood Centers recruitment representative, told The News that the blood center is Michigan based and all blood donated is kept in Michigan, unless there is an emergency. In that case, Versiti Blood Center would export needed blood out of the state.

Dixon explained that Versiti is the primary provider of blood donations to MyMichigan Health, and provides donated blood to 85 hospitals across the state. She explained that Versiti is comparable to the Red Cross and the only difference between the two organizations is that the Red Cross is a national organization while Versity is a Michigan based organization.

According to Dixon, high school students make up 30% of their donor base and Versiti offers incentives for high school students to host their own blood drives. Student organizations that partner with Versiti have the opportunity to work towards leadership achievements. Dixon said that once students collect a certain number of units of donated blood, they can earn leadership graduation cords and scholarships.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@thealpenaNews.com.