CEHS recognized for Blood Donation Initiative

CEHS Students with Mr. & Mrs. Gosling in Nassau

At a June 12 ceremony held at the Police Ballroom in Nassau, the Central Eleuthera High School, institution and students, were recognized by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for a recent tremendous blood donation effort.

It all stemmed from a visit on March 13, by officials from the MOH blood bank in Nassau to C.E.H.S to initiate a pilot blood donor club called “Club 25”.    

 "Club 25" seeks to encourage young people from the ages of 16 to 25 to commit to giving 25 pints of blood before reaching their 26th birthday. It is hoped that these donors will then go on to be lifelong donors.

At a Health Association Blood drive held on March 14, twenty students from C.E.H.S volunteered to give blood and in so doing contributed to a record daily total of 95 pints - making Eleuthera the number one donor after Nassau.

Partly as a result of this the MOH invited Mr. & Mrs. Gosling and 4 students to the ceremony held at the Police Ballroom.

This was an all expenses paid trip and the students /school were awarded a plaque at the ceremony to recognize their tremendous and unselfish efforts.

Many important issues were raised by guest speakers and it was telling to note that the Bahamas only receives approximately 6,000+ pints of blood a year from donors whereas the recommended blood donations for a country of this size and population should be approximately 16,000 pints.

Doctor Glen Beneby highlighted the fact that there were times when life saving surgery had to be postponed due to the lack of blood supplies at the blood bank and in extreme cases resulted in death. It was therefore imperative to encourage people to become regular donors and students from CEHS were setting an important and positive trend in that direction.

The students representing the school were chosen from grade eleven and were:

                                              Hureka Bethel

                                              Simone Thompson.

                                              Kourtney Cooper

                                              Karissa Cooper

                                              Don Seymour Jr.  (Expenses paid by H.A.C.E)

Accompanying these students were Mr. & Mrs. Gosling.