Little Doctors help at a blood drive

Taking a break from their assigned duties are Little Doctors participants (front, l to r): Marie Murphy, Dylan Lane, Robert Adler, Jordan Saciolo, Adam Santa Maria, Katherine Almeida; (rear) Natalia LoMacchio, Gianna Buro, Else Guzman-Amaya, Kaetlyn Lee, Daniel Rosenberg, Nikki DeCicco, Miko Konki, Victoria Lugo, and Kaitlyn Carney.

Courtesy Island Park Schools

For the fifth consecutive year, fifth graders at Island Park Lincoln Orens Middle School helped with a community blood drive. These students participate in the Little Doctors Program, where teachers engage them in learning about the circulatory system and the emergencies that necessitate the need for blood donations.

As part of their lessons and the school’s ongoing community service initiative, the Little Doctors joined recently with Long Island Blood Services to sponsor a blood drive. This effort resulted in the collection of 29 pints of blood, which will help 87 individuals in need.

Some of the interesting facts the “doctors” learned; Every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood, with more than 38,000 donations required every day, only three in one hundred Americans generally give blood, on Long Island alone, 880 pints of blood are required daily and one donation of blood can help save up to five patients’ lives.