By McKenzie Curran
As the smell of Oreo cookies and fruit juice wafted around her, Stonehill sophomore Laura Plourde,19, of Rockland, ME, sat waiting patiently for her appointment to donate blood at the Braintree Blood Donation Center.
“This is going to save someone’s life,” Plourde remembers saying. “It’s not going to hurt that bad, stop being such a chicken.”
Stories like Plourde’s are becoming increasingly scarce across the United States.
As demand for blood escalates, the number of donors has plateaued, a study by the American Red Cross found.
“When I worked in a hospital blood bank, I remember making many frantic calls to the American Red Cross trying desperately to find some blood that was urgently needed for a patient,” said Stonehill blood and medicine Professor Sheila Barry. “Sometimes they were able to help and sometimes they did not have that particular type available, which meant that the patient would not survive.”
Across the nation, there are five million people who need blood annually. Some of these patients need up to 100 units of blood during treatment. With almost 43,000 pints of blood used daily in the U.S. and Canada, and only 16 million pints donated annually, the numbers say it all. A blood shortage is upon us.
Some erroneously believe there’s enough blood because of the preservatives the Red Cross and other blood donation centers use according to Barry.
“The average anticoagulant can keep blood alive for either 42 or 35 days,” said Barry. “But the 35 day anticoagulant is more commonly used because it’s cheaper.”
This means that hundreds of bags of blood are thrown out because the shelf life runs out. Factoring in the number of bags that aren’t used, the number of viable blood for patients is decreased again, making the blood shortage more dangerous.
According to the Red Cross, only five percent of eligible donors actually donate. Others claim their schedule is too busy, they are afraid, or haven’t even considered the possibility. Giving blood saves lives.
Every two seconds a person in this country needs blood. Chances are you are someone or know someone who has once needed blood. Donate for them, donate for yourself.
The procedure for donating blood is simple. Make an appointment, show up, and you’re out in less than an hour usually. After filling out a thorough questionnaire, as mandatory by FDA standards, you sit on a bed with a trained and experienced nurse. She quickly and gently inserts the needle into your vein, and you only feel a little discomfort for about 10 seconds.
“It felt like I was getting a regular shot,” said Stonehill student and blood donor Kathryn Klem, 19, of Belmont, NH. “People shouldn’t get anxiety over it, the bark is worse than the bite.”
The blood donation procedure only lasts about 7-10 minutes, and the only pain is the initial prick.
Pain is only one of many fears people hold about blood donation, and only one of the fears Stonehill sophomore Jaime McClain,19, of Marco Island, FL, maintains.
“I really just can’t even think about the needles or blood without feeling nauseous.” McClain said, “I’m not going to have some dumb nurse miss my vein five times and steal half my blood content. It’s just not for me.”
That doesn’t happen, according to Barry who not only worked at a blood bank, but also has run many blood drives at Stonehill College.
Having a husband who has received blood transfusions for various medical reasons, Barry also understands the importance and process of blood donation on a personal level.
“Two years ago, when my husband almost died after lung cancer surgery, he received over a dozen transfusions.” Barry said, “Each time I looked up at a new bag of blood going into his arm, I silently thanked the wonderful donor who was helping to keep him alive.”
After someone donates blood, the person is lead to a snack table and given cookies, juice, and water to rehydrate.
Not everyone is eligible to donate, however. Only 38 percent of the U.S. population is actually eligible to donate blood according to a study done by the American Red Cross. This has to do with the strict regulations that come with blood donation.
In order to be a donor, there is a laundry list of standards you have to meet. Donors must be healthy, 17 years of age, or 16 with written parental consent, and meet a certain weight requirement. They also cannot donate if they have gotten a tattoo in the last year; gone to certain parts of Africa South America, or Iraq in the past year, or if they are on certain blood thinning medications.
The criteria are important to follow because you don’t want to donate blood that is just going to be thrown out because it has risk of infecting another person.
Donating blood saves lives. Without a steady donor population, countless Americans will die because they could not get the transfusions they desperately need. We can’t manufacture or make blood, it can only be given. With one pint of blood you can save the lives of up to 3 people.
Stonehill is having its own blood drive on December 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Alumni Hall.
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