Dakota Ridge High School physical education teacher Amy Ziegler was inducted into the Fresenius Kabi Blood Donation Hall of Fame on Nov. 15 for her dedication to organizing blood drives at the school for the past 22 years.

Ziegler was presented her award by Fresenius Kabi representative Joe Berry, Vitalant (formerly Bonfils) Mountain Division vice president Anne Burtchaell and Dakota Ridge principal Jim Jelinek.

Brooke Way, communications manager, Vitalant, said the pandemic continues to impact the number of people donating blood. 

In Colorado, the pandemic has forced 539 blood drives to cancel this year alone, resulting in more than 13,000 uncollected units of blood, Way said. And blood drives hosted across Colorado account for about 60-percent of what Vitalant collects for patients every day.

“Amy did not hesitate to advocate for the importance of blood donations during this difficult time,” Way said. “She worked with her administration to allow Vitalant to organize an in-school drive when many schools were learning remotely. She even gave 'extra credit' to students in her class to donate. If students could not donate themselves, they could get extra credit in class by having a friend or family donate blood on their behalf.”

Way said thanks to Ziegler’s efforts, a total of 1,350 units of blood have been collected from staff, students and families of Dakota Ridge High School and thousands of lives have been saved because of it.

Visit vitalant.org to learn more about blood donation or schedule a time to donate.