I just got a call from our Austin Blood and Tissue Center asking my daughter to come donate. I probed a little and was told that we are on a very low nation-wide shortage right now. The person I spoke with said that this office makes calls for other states as well and that it is low everywhere.
I know that our high school sponsors blood drives throughout the year and many of the team members donate. If you do consider this, there are restrictions so please check into them. Here in Austin they are:
you must be 17 years of age
weigh 110 + pounds
be in good health
(I hope I am not offending anyone by making this post.)
Another really cool fact is that you can donate blood every 56 days (or is it 58?) Anyways, basically every two months you can give blood… thats 6 pints in a year! And each pint saves 3 lives, so you can save 18 people in a year! All by yourself, all for just an hour of your time every two months!
I was a little embarrassed when I got my new card after donating this year and realized I had only done it 5 times since I was 17 :o So I decided that I would try and give every 2 months (good health barring of course!).
They also have a “points for pints” thing where you get points every time you donate, and you can turn them in for some cool prizes
And while this post may not have been exactly FIRST related, Im going to put a FIRST related spin on it… many teams and high schools organize blood drives all over the country… get your team to sign up and organize one: http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_510_,00.html
Its a great & worthwhile community service project!
Also remember that if you have any tattoo’s or piercings in the last year and last 6 months respectively that you can not donate blood. High risk for hepatitis’s and other infections. I have O neg blood so they call me every 56 days to come and donate and I also donate platelets (sp?) and they make a huge difference. A great program that the American Blood bank has started, at least in this area, is if you join a program with fellow co-workers or volunteers and all donate regularly if you ever need blood at a hospital you do not have to pay for it. Blood is very very expensive if you undergo surgery or have a trauma and loose blood. this is a great program to be in, I am a part of it at my firehouse and it has already saved one fellow member $500 from his medical bills.
This is also a great thing for FIRST teams to take part in I know that MOE has started a program called ‘Flow with MOE’ that is a blood drive where everyone qualifies on the team to donate and what ever family and friends they can get donates. it is a fun way to get people to be interested in your team and a great thing to do for you local and even national community
The Red Cross has changed their guidelines on piercings recently, such that if they were sterile tools then there is no wait period.
It is easy to do, and I usually get a tshirt and lunch. The tshirts are great for rugby practice, I get 4 or 5 new ones every year and that almost matches the ripping rate.
