By Tim Leeds
There were 13 students from St. Jude-Havre Central school at the Red Cross blood drawing Monday. Not to give blood, but to finish a unit on the circulatory system.
Cindy Flathers, seventh-grade science teacher at the school, arranged to have her students tour the blood drawing with Karen Golden, blood drawing chairperson of the of the Bears Paw chapter of the Red Cross.
Darla Ewer, Red Cross donor recruitment representative from Great Falls, came up to guide the students through the procedures. Several adult relatives of the students also came in case the procedure was too much for the students' constitutions, and needed some support.
Ewer explained the procedure to the students first, about the 39-question form the donors have to fill out and the work at the health booths to make sure the procedure will be safe. She explained the actual drawing procedure itself, and then went with the small groups of students and answered questions as they watched actual blood drawings.
Flathers said her class finished the unit on the circulatory system earlier, but had to wait until the next blood drawing to do this activity. She said she would like to do the activity every year, but that it would depend on how big the class is, if the Red Cross can fit them in, and if the donors are willing to allow it.
Flathers said along with the actual circulatory study, she wanted to show her students what the process was all about.
"It's good for them to see how many people are joining in this," she said. "You never know when you're going to need blood."
Flathers said seeing people do this will hopefully inspire the students to donate blood themselves someday.
She said she had several people volunteer to be on the table for her class. She said it was good that people were willing to help her class like that.
