How to Give a Successful Donation of Blood Essay

Donating blood improves cardiovascular health. Reducing heart attacks can be solved by reducing your blood viscosity, which is how thick and sticky your blood is. It’s caused by too much iron building up in the arties. Men are at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease than women. There are studies that show that out of 3,000 men 88% of the ones who donated blood had less risk of a heart attack by 50% then those who didn’t donate at all. Also when you go to donate blood it’s like getting a free mini check-up. They check your blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and iron levels.

There are, however, requirements to donate blood. “You have to be at least sixteen, then your parents have to sign, and you have to be at least a 115 in weight,” said Kominar. “You also can't have a cold. And you can't have gotten tattoos or ear piercing in the last six months.”

Today we are in great need of a solution to solve the problem of the shortage of human organs available for transplant. The website for Donate Life America estimates that in the United States over 100 people per day are added to the current list of over 100,000 men, women, and children that are waiting for life-saving transplants. Sadly enough, approximately 18 people a day on that list die just because they cannot outlive the wait for the organ that they so desperately need to survive. James Burdick, director of the Division of Transplantation for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services confirms, “The need for organ transplants continues to grow and this demand continues to outpace the supply of transplantable organs”. The

A photo identification or donor card is needed in order to complete the registration process. A person who is going to donate blood needs to stay hydrated and drink plenty of water, “Drinking water 30 minutes before giving blood has been found to improve the donation experience. Drinking fluids before your donation helps maintain good circulation throughout your body, and helps prevent lightheadedness” (“Feel Prepared. Give Blood”). Eating a healthy meal before the donation time is required, the food will give the donor the energy they will need after the donation time. Eating meat the night before is also highly recommended, it helps the iron levels which will be check before it’s time to donate. After the donor has gone through the process of donating “they should make sure to drink plenty of water and not do any lifting or vigorous exercise for the rest of the day” (“Before Your

Our nation has a major blood shortage which results in a national health crisis. States all over the nation are reporting the need for blood donors and the importance of having donors to help those who are directly affected. There has been a recent rise in shortage due to the increased demand of high complex surgeries which require a large supply of blood. McMillan reports, “just one liver transplant can take 120 units of donated blood” (Zabarenko, 2016). It is imperative to bring attention to this social problem, and begin to search for possible solutions, as well as identifying gaps in the policy before seeking policy revision. Experts indicate that “the only solution is for this problem is to persuade people to become donors” (Nagourney, 2009).

The Red Cross provides blood for patients in approximately 2,600 hospitals across the U.S. The Red Cross makes blood available to any patient who needs it — patients are not required to find donors to replace the blood they use allowing the patient and their family to focus on recovery. Eighty percent of the blood donations given to the Red Cross are collected at mobile blood drives set up at community organizations, companies, high schools, and colleges, places of worship or military installations. The remaining 20 percent are collected at Red Cross donation centers. The American Red Cross works with more than 50,000 blood drive sponsors each year to hold more than 200,000 blood drives, providing convenient locations for people to give

What is the American Red Cross? "The American Red Cross exists to provide compassionate care to those in need," states their website. They perform this undertaking through five chief service areas: disaster relief, support of America 's military families, plasma donation, health and safety services, and international services. Through disaster relief, the Red Cross responds to disasters between home fires to hurricanes. They provide food, shelter, health and mental health services to those afflicted. The Red Cross assists “military members, veterans, and their families prepare for, cope with, and respond to the challenges of military service,” helping an average of 150,000 per year. The Red Cross is the largest supplier of blood,

To become an organ donor, all you need to do is fill out a form, which you can find on the New York State Department of Health Website. (http://www.nyhealth.gov) Becoming an organ donor is easy and free. The online form asks you very simple questions, such as your name, date of birth, and which organs or tissues you wish to donate. If you are under the age of 18, you can still choose to be an organ donor with parental consent. Anyone can decide to be a donor. A person’s medical history, race, age, and other characteristics are disregarded until your time of donation. Medical Professionals will determine how suitable you are for donation when you die. After filling out the form, you receive a card that is proof to give the doctor’s permission to operate and remove your organs or tissues from your body.

In a world where life expectancy has increased tremendously over the last century because of new technology and medical procedures, we find humanity ever pushing the boundaries on what it can do to prevent loss of life where possible. One example is the area of organ donation and transplantation. However, unlike many other technologies or procedures which can be built, manufactured, or learned, organ transplantation requires one thing that we can’t create yet: an organ itself. Because our increased life span causes more people to require a replacement organ when theirs starts to fail, the demand has far outrun the supply and the future only looks to get worse. “Between the years 1988 and 2006 the number of transplants doubled, but the

Organ donation is a sacrifice that can touch many people through one person’s unselfish gift. Granted that gift most often comes after a tragic loss of a loved one. As the bearer of three functioning kidneys, I have always considered organ donation to be the expected norm. But today, the focus will be to enlighten you on the reasons to consider organ donation. Organ donations are needed for every age group, race, and ethnic groups. Each person should take the opportunity to extend the gift of life to another individual through organ donation.

The topic of blood donation well-researched, with strategies having been devised to try and increase donation rates all over the world. Australia faces a challenging set of circumstances, in which remuneration for donation is illegal (ARCBS, 2013). It is thought this may be a contributing factor to the poor repeat donation rates in youth demographics, for whom altruism is no longer a primary driving factor when considering donation (Russell-Bennett, Hartel, Previte & Russel, 2012).

This states that, the person who is going to donate blood should submit his/her whole details.

The need for blood is growing more everyday while the numbers of donors is decreasing. Sickle cell disease affects more than 70,000 people in the U.S. About 1,000 babies are born with the disease each year. Sickle cell patients can require frequent blood transfusions throughout their lives (RedCrossBlood.org). According to the Red Cross blood website 41,000 pints of blood are needed every single day, and they need us to make that possible. Donating blood is a safe process that is done with a sterile needle used only one time for each donor. There is a four-step process to donating blood. First, is the

donation. 2. The reality is, as we all know, that we are not invincible, and

62 Griffith University students, 35 female and 27 male age 18 – 30 were asked to participate in our survey. Respondents had to fill out 20 questions which included demographic questions on age, gender and nationality as well as questions regarding awareness, attitude and actual behaviour towards blood donation. The quantitative data from our survey was entered into