Donating blood is one of the most important, selfless, and humanitarian acts that a human can perform and it doesn’t cost a penny. How much blood is needed? Close to forty thousand units is needed every day in America alone. That calculates to someone in this country – a cancer patient, a trauma patient – needing blood every two seconds. Since blood cannot be stored forever – it has a shelf life, of sorts – (anywhere from 5 days to 42 days, depending on the nature of the red blood cells, platelets, etc), there is a constant demand for blood. This is accentuated to crisis levels when considering that patients must receive blood compatible with their blood type. Only 1% of the population has AB-type blood. Right now, Atlanta hospitals are screaming out for donations of AB-platelets; there simply is not enough of this critical substance to go around.
It’s a near certainty that yourself or someone you love will need donated blood within their lifetime. While there are some eligibility requirements, most adults are capable of donating. What does the blood donation process entail? What, if anything, do the donors risk, and what can they gain?
Gladys, an American Red Cross employee at the Atlanta Red Cross headquarters (call 1-800-GIVELIFE to find the center closest to you), was happy to answer some of these questions. She described the safety and importance of the process in detail. Every time you donate blood, you save three lives,” she began, pausing to let the statistic of that opening statement sink in. Our nurses are trained professionals, friendly people who are extremely skilled at putting you at ease during the process. You are first shown to a private area where a doctor confidentially leads you through a list of health questions. This is to ensure the received blood is of the highest quality, but the [comprehensive] questions by a medical professional could reveal a health problem on your part, something that you might not have noticed.” With the price of health care in this country, who could turn down a free medical examination of this type?
If you are in good health, you’re then led to a comfy chair, and a fresh package of sterilized syringes / tubing is removed from its packaging. Nothing is reused; it’s all disposed of after one use, eliminating the chance of donors being contaminated with a blood-borne disease by the donation process. The actual needle prick is remarkably painless, and after about an hour the process is finished. Approximately a pint of your blood has been safely collected, and you’re treated to refreshments and thanked for your selfless act. The blood removed from your body is regenerated in a short period of time, and although some donors may feel momentarily weak immediately following donation, your body will quickly recuperate.
While the Red Cross doesn’t pay individuals money for blood donations (with the philosophy that doing so would heighten the number of unhealthy donor applicants, some of whom might be tempted to lie during the exam), as a donor you do gain numerous intangible rewards. You obtain a free medical examination, which could alert you to an unknown health issue. You gain the sense of pride of helping someone in a unique way – maybe someone’s child who was in a car crash, or a young lady dying of cancer. You’ve given something that everyone in America relies upon, but hardly anyone helps to provide. You’re secure in the knowledge that, with the shortages that currently exist, your time has not been wasted and your donation of blood will be put to the best possible use.
Most importantly, without taking a single risk to your own health, you have given someone else, quite literally, the gift of life, a gift that only a truly altruistic human can give. The band-aid covering the donation site on your arm is a flag of pride. Everyone who looks at it knows that, today, you were out saving lives.
