By: Sarah Wright | Troy Times | Published April 22, 2026
TROY — As part of a project for HOSA — an organization promoting student interest in the health care fields — Athens High students Rebekah Samuel, Atharv Rao and Kavya Shenoy created a community awareness initiative, “Aware of Anemia,” educating people on the condition.
Anemia is a blood condition where a person’s blood does not carry enough oxygen to the rest of the body. There are different types of anemia such as iron deficiency, sickle cell anemia and plastic anemia, which can lead to different health problems if one doesn’t get diagnosed and change their diets or get the treatment they need.
“We’re trying to raise awareness within our community about anemia, its symptoms, treatments, prevention or awareness methods, and ways to know and check on if you have anemia,” Shenoy said. “We realized that a lot of the population — especially in Troy, because it’s so diverse — struggles with iron deficiency and other dietary restrictions that can later cause anemia.”
Samuel herself was diagnosed with anemia when she was 15.
“I get my blood checked every couple months to make sure the anemia didn’t come back, but also blood tests are the way that you find out that you have anemia (originally),” Samuel said. “Oftentimes, people don’t realize they have it at first. The way I found out, I almost fainted in class and realized there must be something bigger behind this, so I got tested for a bunch of things by my doctor, and that’s how I found out I was deficient.”
Through their HOSA project, they’ve distributed flyers at school and the Patel Brothers grocery store, led classroom presentations, created a podcast called “The Iron Messenger” that includes interviews with health care professionals, partnered with a nonprofit for a toy drive that raised around $2,000 worth of toys that were given to the Henry Ford Hospital in Macomb, did a bake sale at Athens High that raised around $350 for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America in Detroit, and posted anemia facts to their Instagram page, @anemia.awarenesss.
“One of the final, biggest things that we’re currently working on is running a schoolwide food drive where we’re having kids in our school donate food, because diet is such a major factor in combating anemia,” Shenoy said. “So, this is the first food drive that Troy Athens is running since COVID.”
For more information, visit instagram.com/anemia.awarenesss.