Mar 27, 2020
1. Hospitals are cancelling surgeries, so why is blood needed?
There are many more needs for blood in addition to surgeries. For example, every day -- even during the pandemic -- there is trauma. Car accidents and other injuries can entail the need for blood. Patients undergoing cancer treatment generally require platelet transfusions. And there are a high number of patients who need regular, ongoing blood transfusions just to survive. If you’re healthy, you’re needed now more than ever. We cannot let it get to the point where there’s no blood available for hospitals.
The best and most helpful practice is for people to become dedicated donors who give blood on a regular basis. This is a challenging concept to communicate because we don’t want to give donors the impression that their blood is not wanted or needed. It is indeed critically needed; just not all at once. If we experience big spike of people all trying to donate at the same time, there is the risk having your precious blood becoming outdated and therefore unusable. Blood components can't be stockpiled; they have a limited shelf life: 45 days for red blood cells and only five days for platelets.
2. How can donors prepare for a blood donation?
- Eat a healthy, low-fat meal within two hours ahead of your donation. The day before, eat a salty snack. When you donate blood, you lose about a gram of salt. Replacing it ahead of time helps keep your blood pressure normal.
- Hydrate by drinking 8 to 16 ounces of non-alcoholic beverages one hour before you donate. Water and sports drinks are great choices because they plump up your veins. Try to avoid caffeine because it dehydrates you.
- Plan for an hour for a whole blood donation. The actual donation time is only about 10 minutes. Whole blood is the most common type of donation. Vitalant also uses special technology to collect specific blood components (red blood cells, platelets and plasma) to match patient needs
This content was originally posted on the WDTV News website here.
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