COUNTYWIDE : 4 Schools Praised for Blood Donations

Four Ventura County high schools are being recognized by United Blood Services in Ventura for having the most participants in a countywide high school blood drive.

Most of the county’s high schools held two blood drives during the 1990-1991 school year, and the efforts netted 1,925 units of blood.

Plasma and red cells, or platelets, were supplied to more than 4,000 county patients, said Michael Hayward, executive director of United Blood Services, the county’s nonprofit blood supplier.

“We are grateful to the students, faculty and parents for their ongoing support of the patients we serve,” he said.

United Blood Services this year established the Lifesaver Award, which goes to the top-producing public and private high schools in two categories.

The blood bank honors the schools with the highest number of donors per year and the schools with the highest percentage of participation, based on the size of the senior class.

In the public high school category, Royal High School in Simi Valley won the highest number award for its 218 donors; Nordhoff High School in Ojai won the highest percentage award with 63% participation out of a senior class of 150 students.

In the private high school category, St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura won the highest number award for having 90 donors, while The Thacher School in Ojai won the highest percentage award with 92% participation out of a senior class of 58.