Canadian Int'l School students launch Red Wave Initiative to boost voluntary blood donations

Bengaluru: In a laudable and noble initiative, four Grade 11 students of Canadian International School (CIS), Siddharth, Tanvi, Pranav and Ananya have founded and launched a Red Wave Initiative to encourage voluntary blood donation and save lives. The project aims to support cancer patients by providing them with financial aid and the necessary blood for transfusion.

The lack of blood and its products remains a major healthcare issue in India. Responding to this, the CIS students work closely with Cytecare Cancer Hospitals to fulfill the collective aim of having a registry of 10,000 blood donors.

It all started when Cytecare Cancer Hospitals invited Siddharth, Tanvi, Pranav and Ananya to be a part of its Observership Programme, which gives young people an idea of how the hospital works and what challenges the healthcare sector faces. "We understood that cancer patients face numerous hardships and traumas on an everyday basis and that timely access to blood is vital for them. That is when we decided to make a change," comments Pranav.

Spreading awareness about blood donation, The Red Wave Initiative has also helped underprivileged patients at the Cytecare hospital. "That is how we recently crowd-sourced funds for a young cancer patient's treatment through online platforms, marathons, including the annual Terry Fox Run by CIS, and an art workshop at school," says Siddharth.

"Nearly 35% of the blood donated in India goes to cancer treatment. Only 4 out of 100 eligible donors in our country donate blood for the needy. If only 4 more people donated, all of the cancer related blood needs would be fulfilled," stressed Tanvi.

"We can do so much more together. Several minutes of your time to donate blood will save someone's life. We call people to join us in this endeavor," added Ananya.

The Managing Director, Canadian International School, Bangalore, Shweta Sastri said, "The CIS community is extremely proud of our students who make a real difference. They identified and addressed one of the biggest challenges in India's healthcare sector. Such humanitarian projects, envisioned and created by our students, are genuine examples of caring and inspiration, which are among the core values at CIS."

The Red Wave Team has already motivated hundreds of volunteers to sign up.