| Yet fewer than 5 percent of the people who
are able to give blood actually do so - and most of them give only once a year. That’s why the American Red Cross works so hard to recruit new blood
donors. Because hospital patients throughout our state need your help.
Help is easy to give. All you have to do is take an hour and donate
blood.
Every blood donation you make can help as many as three different
patients - people rushed to hospitals after a trauma, children fighting leukemia, fire
fighters who’ve been burned, grandparents needing heart surgery or hip replacement -
people like the ones in your neighborhood, or in your own family - these are the kinds of
people your blood donation will help.
HOW IT WORKS
When you donate a unit of blood, it is separated into its components. Each component
meets a different medical need:
Surgery patients will use your red blood cells. Your red cells will last for up to 7
weeks under refrigeration.
Cancer patients or bone marrow transplant recipients need your platelets to prevent
hemorrhaging. These fragile cell fragments last for only 5 days and patients need
platelets from as many as 6 - 10 donors for every transfusion.
Patients suffering burns, shock or dehydration need your plasma. Plasma can also be
transformed into a variety of products to combat shock, fight infection or replace
clotting factors for patients with hemophilia. A single transfusion for a patient with
hemophilia can require literally hundreds of volunteer blood donors.
GIVING BLOOD IS QUICK, EASY AND SAFE!
Be sure you eat a balanced meal within four hours before you give
blood. And get a good night’s sleep. |
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