World Blood Donor Day

Giving blood can be a daunting task, but have you ever thought for one minute what your small sacrifice does to benefit others? Since 2004, on June 14th each year there have been awareness campaigns and blood donation drives going on all over the world. Known as World Blood Donor Day by the UN and WHO, the day brings our attention to how critical blood donors are. They are instrumental to saving the lives of people requiring blood transfusions.

With a constant shortage of supply, we all want to know where would our blood be going? Furthermore, who would be helped by it and what are the importance of safety issues with donating blood. Would it be a family member or a stranger battling cancer or perhaps a person involved in a car accident? When you think about it, you have the power to save a life with your blood donations through people who need transfusions. So, no matter what way you think about it, your blood will go to someone in need.

If you’ve never given blood before, then here are some quick facts about the Blood Donation Process:

• Blood donation is a simple, four-step process: registration, medical history and mini-physical, donation and refreshments. It is a safe process, and a sterile needle is used only once for each donor and then discarded.
• The process takes typically takes less than 10-12 minutes. So from the time you arrive to the time you leave, takes about an hour and 15 minutes and that’s all that’s needed to save a life.
• The average adult has about 10 pints of blood in their body. Approximately only one pint is given during a single donation.
• A healthy donor may donate red blood cells every two months.
• Humans have the ability to donate four types of transfusable products that can be derived from blood: red cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate.
• You must be a registered blood donor before your local donation clinic can accept your blood. Strangely enough, 19 percent of donors donate occasionally, 31 percent are first-time donors and 50 percent are regular or loyal donors.

If you have/had any symptoms of Covid-19, you must be fully recovered for 28 days before you can donate.