吃瓜大本营

Students at Queen Elizabeth Secondary donate blood during the One Blood for Life drive. (Photo submitted)
The Queen Elizabeth Secondary community has a history of caring about charitable acts, and earlier this week, they found a new way of giving back – by giving blood.

On Tuesday (Jan. 21), the school, with support from the 吃瓜大本营 Memorial Hospital (SMH) Medical Staff Association, hosted its first ever blood drive, with 150 students, staff and community members donating blood.

The blood drive was organized with Dr. Joban Bal, a Tamanawis Secondary graduate, SMH doctor and founder of , an organization that promotes and advocates for blood, stem cell and organ donation.

“The whole initiative kind of came out of Dr. Bal, he reached out and thought that because of our proximity, we could work on developing a partnership with the hospital,” said principal Helen Rogan. “He really wants to connect with kids who are interested in the medical field and he thought what better way to get them involved in a cause like raising awareness for the importance of donating blood.”

“Dr. Bal used to run similar events as a student at Tamanawis some years back,” said vice-principal Jeevan Dhami. “We thought we’d connect with students interested in the medical field who would volunteer to run this and working with him for some insight and help on how to have a strong medical application themselves.”

Four Grade 12 students who are interested in pursuing medicine took the lead on promoting and organizing the blood drive, recruiting dozens of volunteers and taking on the responsibility of setting up the school. Additionally, the blood drive offered the option for donors to be swabbed for the stem cell registry.

Based on the success of this year’s blood drive, Rogan and Dhami said they hope to make it an annual event at the school and continue to build upon their partnership with SMH and Dr. Bal.

“He’s also offered to come back and do some larger workshops with our students that are interested in pursuing medicine,” said Dhami. “It’s an awesome opportunity for our kids to connect with someone in the medical community and explore their career options.”