The Hero Within Lecture and Lab Series
Your students can earn educational credits by attending any of the courses offered. Courses are based on high school TEKS objectives and cover blood biology, leadership development and more.
Give your students a peek into the lifesaving process. Schedule any or all of these opportunities:
Intro to Hosting Blood Drives: Why should your school host a blood drive? In this course, we’ll cover all things blood drive. We’ll walk through the donation process and learn why it’s so super important to set appointments for your donors. Find out what YOU can do to prevent donor reactions at your blood drive.
Blood Basics Overview: Think you know all of the details? Let’s walk through the basics of blood with an overview of transfusion history, biology, blood types, donation types and compatibility.
Blood Center Tour: Ever wonder what happens to a unit of blood once it leaves your blood drive? We’ll follow the trail of a donation, starting in the donor room and finishing in hospital services, where units are housed until delivery to local hospitals. Students also will have the opportunity to meet and ask questions of professionals from different departments.
Advanced Lecture & Lab
Students can gain a more in-depth look into the blood banking world. We can present these at your school, or you can take a field trip to our facility.
Earn one course and associated lab for each blood drive hosted in a school year. Our advanced courses are exclusive offerings for our blood drive partner schools designed to give your students a more in-depth look into the blood banking world.
Blood 101, Blood Biology (One hour): “Are you my type?” What makes a type? Why are types important? We’ll go into this and more while we study the red stuff. Students 17 and over (16 with a parent permission form) will participate in a blood typing lab.
Rare Donors/Diversity in Donors (One hour): Think there are only eight blood types? Think again. In this session, we’ll discuss rare blood group antigens. Since the ABO and Rh systems are only two of the 33 antigen systems, students will discover blood typing is not as easy as ABO.
Escape Room (One hour): Working as part of an effective team is essential in the real world, no matter your field. We’ll test your leadership skills as you race the clock to save the world. (Limit of 20 students)
What’s Your Point? Effective Communication (One hour) – Sometimes it’s hard to get to the point. Effective communication is a learned skill, and we’re here to help. Fun activities accompany this discussion about verbal and written communication.
Career Insights (30 minutes): The Vice President of Operations at The Blood Center started his career as a driver picking up units at blood drives. Many career paths are available, and the sky is the limit. We’ll give your students an overview of positions, duties, education needed and career trajectory.
VIP Lecture & Lab
Students receive immersive hands-on training and career insights from the pros. They’ll earn one course at Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center for hosting three blood drives in a school year.
Be a VIP at our facility. The world of blood banking is fascinating and complex, and there is no better place to become immersed in an interactive educational experience than at Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center.
Phlebotomy Lab + Advanced Lecture and Lab of your choice: Train like the pros! During a day at Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, students will learn tricks of the trade from our in-house trainers. After learning techniques and best practices, each student will have the opportunity to perform a phlebotomy procedure on a dummy arm. (Limit of 20 students.)
