Elementary students throughout the Hicksville School District are volunteering their time after school to be “Little Doctors,” a program that trains students to assist donors at blood drives.
“The children use the opportunity to get involved in community service and learn the importance of donating blood to those in need,” said Burns Avenue School Principal Michael Dunn of the program, that recently held a blood drive in his building.
Students are provided with hospital lab coats and given instruction on how to help blood donors complete the required forms before clinicians take over the process. More importantly, the students are instructed on how to help those who have just given blood rest and replenish vital liquids and sugars.
According to the New York Blood Center, this after-school program neatly complements the science curriculum requirements for grades five through eight, in particular the sixth-grade curriculum. The Hicksville PTA is instrumental in organizing blood drives throughout the school district.
— From the Hicksville School District
