American Red Cross Northern Ohio Blood Services Region

A Commitment To Safety

The blood supply is safer than it has ever been in our nation’s history.

The American Red Cross ensures donating blood is a safe opportunity to give the Gift of Life. Each needle is sterile, disposable and used only once - just for you - and then destroyed after use. Red Cross technicians are specially trained to make your donation experience comfortable and rewarding. Our personnel will ask you confidential questions and conduct a quick health screening to determine if it is safe for you to donate. They will also be glad to answer your questions and talk about the process.

• by recruiting only volunteer blood donors
  
• by providing information about high-risk behaviors associated with transmissible diseases
  
• by conducting confidential and rigorous behavioral and health history screening interviews of all donors prior to donation.

After donation, each unit of blood goes through up to 12 tests at a National Testing Lab (NTL). Every unit of blood is screened for infectious diseases such as HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B and C, as well as for unexpected antibodies that might cause complications in some patients.

Within 18 hours of submitting blood samples to the NTL in Detroit, test results are sent back to the Northern Ohio Blood Services Region. Any blood that does not pass all lab tests is destroyed.

While blood transfusions are not risk free, the blood supply is extremely safe. The risk of contracting HIV from a transfusion is currently extremely low - less than .0001%. In almost every case, the lifesaving benefits of receiving a blood transfusion outweigh the very small risk of contracting an infectious disease.

Many layers of safety protect our nation’s blood supply.
Modern medicine could not be practiced without blood.

Medical Director approval 10/2002

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