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Blood Drive Students

By Frederick Corrigan

I’ve had the good fortune of being able to donate blood to the American Red Cross. I say good fortune, because I’m healthy enough to donate and my pint of donated blood could save up to three lives.

Our blood is needed by a tremendous number of people, for many different reasons. The pint of blood that we donate has a rather short shelf life and can only be used for up to 42 days.

Generally, the blood that we donate is used within a close proximity to where we donate. Shipping the units of blood requires special handling and refrigeration which is why it isn’t done on a regular basis.

The blood that you donate is used to help many different types of patients.

A car accident victim could require 1 to 100 units of blood.

A woman delivering a premature baby could need 1 to 4 units of blood, while she is in intensive care.
When a person has a liver transplant, they may need up to 10 pints of blood.

I heard of a young woman who needed a lung transplant. She went through a 9 hour surgery and more than a year of recovery. This 19 year old needed almost 400 pints of blood over a very short period of time.

There was a Red Cross Blood Drive at the Sacred Heart High School in Kingston, Ma. March 10, 2010. I’ve never been to a high school blood drive and I was very impressed with the experience.

First, the blood drive was held in the school gym. This large space allowed for plenty of seating area, private information gathering cubicles, donation table’s area and for the refreshment area, when you had completed your donation.

The general atmosphere in most blood drive areas is rather quiet and reserve.

This was not the case at the high school. The young people can donate at the age of 16 with their parent’s permission. I’m waiting my turn and here were these young girls and boys talking to each other, texting on their cell phones, chatting with the school nurse and interacting with the volunteers and Red Cross Nurses.

Of great importance was the fact that these young people were being exposed to the needs of others and they could be a part of saving someone’s life.

They found out that giving blood didn’t hurt them and they could feel good about helping others.

They also found out that the whole process, from registration to refreshments, only takes about 1 hour. The actual donation only takes about 10 minutes.

The students learned that the blood that was taken will be replaced, by their body, within 24 hours and they can also donate again in 56 days.

This is a great way to get our young people involved in helping others. You could see the pleasure that these students felt as they moved from registration to refreshments. Their pleasure was well earned as the blood drive results were impressive. The blood drive went from 11AM to 4PM and when I left at 3:30 they had collected over 120 pints of blood.

If you get the chance and can get your high school to hold a Red Cross Blood Drive, DO IT! If not, go to a high school blood drive and share the joy of our young students helping others. They made the day for this 70’s something senior citizen!

Contributor's Note

Try it, you'll love it!!!

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I have just spent over a week in a Tenerife Spain private hospital.
All that I noticed about donating blood was a little card with an invitation to do so, which was followed by a telephone number. Somebody left if for my visitors by a small
TV near the room entrance door. The blood drive in US high schools sounds so much more fun, though.

Thank you for visiting and for your comments, Gabriele. Sorry to hear that you were in the hospitol and hopefuly your on the mend.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I've given blood a number of times, but I haven't tried a High School blood drive. The right atmosphere could certainly make it more fun.

Thank you for stopping by and for your comments, Christina.
Try it you'll get a lot of enjoyment watching these young students.
Best to you,
Frederick

Sounds like a satisfying experience, unfortunately denied to UK citizens as there is an age limit of 60, over which they don't want your blood.

I can't imagine why they put an age limit of 60, when such a large portion of the population is in that age bracket.
Thanks for the comments, Adrian.
Best wishes.
Frederick

When I was in college my friends would go in a group to donate and invited me to come along, but when the nurses saw me, they laughed and said I was too skinny to donate. I tried.

The reason that the school nurse was present, was to make certain that the students were the right weight for their height.
Thanks for visiting and your comments,Janet.
Best wishes.
Frederick

That reminds me. I was told yesterday the Red Cross is looking for me again. Nice to feel wanted by someone.

You can bet that you're wanted by the Red Cross, Reg. The need is great and it continues to grow daily.
Thanks for visiting and for your comments.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Leave it to the young people to teach us old farts how to appreciate the act of giving blood.

Learning helps to keep us young, Jim. Or younger!!
Thanks for your support.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I used to give blood quite regularly, but the last time I went, my wife had to be brought round after passing out for 5 minutes or so. She won't give any more. This is a shame since she has one of the rarer blood group AB rh-ve I believe.
I have Group O rh +ve one of the most common groups. I learnt subsequent to my last donation that I had a childhood illness which precluded my blood being used for transfusions. Shame. Still better that than poisoning a sick patient.

Thank you for sharing your Blood Donor experience, Damien.
The testing prior to donating is valuable information that we might not have, if we didn't try to donate.
Thank you folks for giving as long as you were able.
Best wishes.
Frederick

A German friend of mine has a very rare blood group. Once they called him on the phone in South Africa to please return to Germany to donate blood. If I had not heard it myself I would never have believed this.
That's how precious blood can be. They called him on his cell phone, you know...

I really appreciate your second visit to this intel, Gabriele. You comments add a lot of support.
Best to you.
Frederick

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