A team of students are helping to combat the national blood shortage by hosting a blood drive on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Epic Urgent & Family Care in Streamwood.

The student group putting on the blood drive, Red Pulse, is part of HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America), participating in their Community Awareness event by helping run blood drives to help the national blood shortage. The event is coordinated with Versiti, a Midwest-based non-profit organization that supports local blood drives and helps supply hospitals and medical centers with blood.

On Jan. 25, students and families are encouraged to go to the donation center in Streamwood and give blood. Those planning on attending should fill out this form (however, walk-ins are still welcome), yet noting that those under 16 require parental consent before donating.

Sophomore Rishin Patel is a member of Red Pulse co-organizing the blood drive. “One of the big problems with donating blood is nobody ever is asked personally to donate,” Patel said. “So we decided to host a blood drive, and we would spread messages in our community. We’d bring the blood drive to our area and be like, Hey, if even kids are doing it, then I think it sort of begs action on our part that this is an issue.’ I think there’s just that stigma around it, and so it’s hard to market it and get people to donate.”
The American Red Cross organization announced in 2024 that its national blood inventory dropped by over 25%, to a level it hasn’t seen since 20 years ago. Red Pulse aims to help bring community awareness to the shortage through events such as these blood drives and do their part to help solve it.

In addition to the blood drive, Red Pulse is also raising money for the Versiti Blood Research Institute and is gladly taking donations. To hear about future events put on by Red Pulse, students can follow their Instagram for upcoming posts to stay updated.