By
Nurse Diane
My aunt recently fell and hit her head on her
concrete carport. She was eventually
moved to ICU where she received 4 pints of platelets. She had a blood disorder that required many
blood donations. My aunt did not survive
this fall, but the donations allowed her a few extra days to spend with her
children, one who made it to her bedside the day before she passed away. Our
family is very grateful to all those who gave there time and blood to make this
happen.
Enticing blood is not an easy task. Several large corporations have blood drives
for their employees offering incentives and prizes. The blood mobile can be seen at local
festivals or health fairs. They will
even go to high schools to encourage the older students to donate. When I was in high school I wanted to donate,
mainly to get out of class, but also to help someone who needed it.
If there is a local tragedy, people will flock to the
hospitals to donate their blood, and even if they don't have the same blood
type, their blood will be stored for future use. The biggest problem faced is storing the
blood. Shelf life for plasma can be up
to a year, but red blood cells can only be stored for as long as 40 days, and platelets
for only 7 days. This makes blood
donation a constant need.
There are specific requirements for donating
blood. You must be at least 17 years of
age, must be afebrile at the time. A
medical history is checked, and a screening test is performed to make sure
there are no medications or any possible diseases. Pregnant women are deferred, and sometimes
the elderly to prevent any health risks.
Today is World Blood Donor Day. This is the
birthday of Karl Landsteiner, the scientist who discovered the ABO blood group
system. As of 2008, the WHO estimated
that more than 81 million units of blood were being collected annually. Donating blood is relatively simple and
painless. After the questions and blood
screening, you simply lie in a chair, a needle is inserted in your arm, and
then your blood flows into a bag. It
doesn't take very long, depending on how fast your blood flow is. You need to rest for about 15 to 20 minutes
and enjoy some snacks so you don't get dizzy or faint.
Why don't you go and donate some blood today, who
knows you might even get a free tee shirt, or a day off work with pay not to
mention the great feeling you will get from saving someone's life.
(Images from Google)
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