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While in college, I listened to someone give a speech on donating blood. I do not think I got much out of the class, but this was one of those times when such speech actually led to action. There was a blood drive a little bit later down the block, so I decided to go and check it out. It went smoothly, and I have been giving blood fairly regularly (you can give whole blood every 56 days) ever since. If a woman can get a good speech out of her good works, perhaps I can get a good web page, and hopefully help at least one person to go out and give blood as well. The fact many operations require blood transfusion of a lot of blood (e.g., a car accident might require up to fifty units), blood that comes from people like you and me (from blood banks rarely satisfactorily stocked), makes such donations that much more important. As a preliminary comment, let me reassure everyone that the whole procedure is rather easy and requires only about an hour of your time, which comes out to be about seven hours a year for those who give blood every fifty six days. It is true that there are people who hate needles, but the little prick given at first and even the needle for the main donation are as or less painful or painless than those used to give people their shots. Just close your eyes and do not psych yourself out, and it will be over quickly. Furthermore, it is completely safe, the needles are new and sterile, so do not believe the myths that you can get AIDS or some other disease from blood transfusion. A few people might feel a bit light headed sometime during the twenty-four hours after the procedure, but a good meal and enough liquids before and after will usually stop and/or alleviate such a problem. Finally, it is now illegal to be paid for donations, which clearly would open up the possibility of abuse. Let us now look at the procedure involved for the donation of your blood. First of all, you have to make an appointment with a blood center (check the sites supplied or your local listings) or with a blood drive, though many accept walk-ins. A person must be seventeen years old, one hundred and ten pounds, healthy, and not fall within various risks groups (see appendix below) to be allowed to give blood. A person who has already donated can supply his/her social security number or the number on the blood donation card supplied to easy matters along. You are told to eat a hearty breakfast before donating blood. When your appointment arrives, you check in and fill out a form that supplies the blood center with various personal information, such as name and address, all of which is private (even from the government, including those who fall into certain risk groups). You also answer various questions to ascertain if you fall into certain risk groups (see endnotes for a bit more discussion on them), while the blood technician will ask you a few more (again, the information is private, including a sticker you place on the form telling them if your blood is safe for donation). Once the form is filled out, you wait your turn for a preliminary examination by a skilled blood technician. The technician will ask for identification to determine your identity and age and will ask you the questions I alluded to earlier, which is basically a perfunctory procedure (they still will test your sample, and the assumption is that risky individuals probably will not be there anyway, especially if you have donated blood before). Your temperature (via a mouth strip under your tongue), blood pressure, and pulse is checked, your arms examined for needle marks, and your finger pricked to check your hemoglobin (protein component of your blood) content. This all usually takes five minutes or less. If all this information meets the necessary requirements, you are ready to give your pint of blood. You are pointed to a dentist-like (comfy) chair and lay back, while they check your veins to see what arm is best for giving blood. Your arm is swabbed with iodine, and you are given a little round tube (or ball like thing) to squeeze every ten to fifteen seconds or so as the blood flows. It is time for the main event, in which they (quick prick) insert the needle in your arm, and the blood flows into the bag, as you squeeze the tube. Unless something goes wrong (but once did my blood flow so slowly that I could not supply a pint in the necessary fifteen or so minutes), you should have given that pint of blood in around ten minutes. Time to have them remove the needle, after they remove a bit more blood into vials for testing, raise your arm, and put on a nice guaze pad. You are about done! Lay off smoking for around an hour, have plenty of liquids, and be gentle with the arm that was used. Time to be led to the rec room for about a ten minute break, where refreshments and snacks are served. And soon it is all over, quicker and easier than you thought, so easy in fact you are glad to do it again is 56 days (whole blood). And besides, if you are lucky, you will get a nice blood donation sticker and blood drop pin for your trouble! Not a bad deal in way of public service, especially in areas (like NYC) that always seems to have blood shortages.
This section is just a summary of those who cannot give blood because they fall in various risk groups, mainly for AIDS, and more information can be obtained at the blood center websites or by phone. The most notable group that cannot give blood are homosexual males who had sex with another male (notably women who had such contact with bisexual males are barred only for a year) since 1977. Likewise, "past or present users of intravenous (IV) drugs" ar barred. AIDS first came into public view around 1980, and the virus can lay dormant for years, thus the choice of that early date. Also, prostitutes and people from certain African countries (or had sex with them) also are barred, even if such contact was as early as 1977. Nonetheless, sex with AIDS patients or IV drug users, people in jail (many who had unsafe sex there), rape victims, and sufferers of certain sexual diseases are only limited for a year. These limits might arguably be too brief, but remember, the blood is still tested regardless of what risk group you are or say you are in.
Another section of the public who cannot give blood, and one whose scope might be rising, is related to "mad cow disease." The still rare cases of people affected by infected cows and perhaps other animals, mainly from Great Britian, are dangerous in that the disease can be passed on by the blood. Some feel there are still many who might in the future show signs of this deadly disease, given its long latency rate. This concern of Creutzfeldt-Jakob type diseases led to a ban of donations from those who travelled for more than six months in the UK between the years 1980-1996. Likewise, concern of malaria and other blood diseases can disallow travellers to certain Central and South American countries for around a year.
A notable limit applies to tattoo and body piercing. There is a one year delay from the last time you received a tattoo or unlicensed body piercing. Finally, concern of blood sucking ticks (no lie) around Fort Chaffee in Arkansas has led to a bar from donating blood if you served in active duty there in the last four weeks.