Donating blood

[jjschwabach]

I was just checking outmrockwell 's plea for blood donations, and thought I'd add my voice to hers.

Only 3% of people in America do it.
60% of people are eligible donors.

Some people are ineligible, but far more claim to be than are.

For instance, you cannot donate blood if you've had a *recent* tattoo.  Yet, I've known people who had tattoos that were years

Comments

[melissajm]

I wish I could, but more than one doctor has told me I'm ineligible. That's why I do the Locks of Love thing instead.

But THANK YOU to the people out there who donate blood and/or organs. You've saved my life in the past and given me hope for the future, and I'm grateful.

[jjschwabach]

Yeah, you're a person who can't. But plenty of people can, and don't.

[melissajm]

BTW, may I steal this post for my LJ too?

[jjschwabach]

Link away...

[sylvia_rachel]

I used to donate two or three times a year until I became ineligible. I've tried going back several times since then and been turned down every time, even though I'm perfectly healthy now and have been for ::quick math:: almost 10 years. I was thinking about this just today, in fact, because SP and I passed a donor clinic set up in a shopping centre. Encouragingly, they had a lot of people waiting and filling in the forms, and all the staff seemed to be busy.

BTW, it does take some people a whole hour to donate blood. I used to spend 45 minutes just lying there filling up my pint bag, and the rest of the drill took at least 15 minutes on each end. I know this is unusual, though, because the nurses always commented on how long it was taking.

[jjschwabach]

Yes, I've seen it take a long time for some people.

I've had it take 30 minute to fill a bag, but they were commenting on it in that case, too.