I hit my eight weeks again yesterday, making me eligible to donate blood again.
I headed up to a High School in York Springs to donate. Did the typical sign-in, read the book, get temperature and blood pressure taken, finger pricked for iron level and got to say No a lot. Pretty typical routine for me, up until they ’sticked’ me. Usually I bleed pretty quickly, but yesterday was not the case. The donate room was definitely chilly, not sure if that was causing it or I just had a bad stick. But I suspect I had a rookie stick me which caused the problems, took almost 30 minutes to get the pint out. After that though, was the good stuff. A bag of Famous Amos Chocolate Chip cookies, some OJ and another free T-Shirt!
I encourage everyone that can, please go out and donate blood. You must be in good health, be at least 17 years old, and weigh at least 110 pounds. You will also need to pass physical and health history reviews prior to donating.
You can donate every 8 weeks (56 days) and you do not have to wait until you hear about a blood drive. The Red Cross wants people to make appointments, but that is not necessary, just show up. Today there are at least 30 blood drives happening in the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Region. You can see the daily Blood drive schedule for the next month here.
60% of the population is medically eligible to give blood, yet only 5% of the national population donates blood.
4.5 million Americans would die each year without life saving blood transfusions
Every three seconds someone needs blood.
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