AHA News: Blood Donation Benefits Both Recipients and Givers – And Now is an Important Time – Consumer Health News

Wednesday, February 23, 2022 (American Heart Association News)-Every few seconds, you’ll notice that someone in the United States needs a blood donation. However, there is not always enough blood donation to meet that need. Aid agencies have begun the year when they announced that the country was facing the worst blood shortages in more than a decade.

Donations are needed to replenish the blood that people have lost and cannot be replenished for a variety of reasons, including heart surgery, organ transplants, burns, injuries, and cancer treatments. However, according to the Red Cross, only 3% are eligible to donate each year.

“The blood needed for these patients comes only from humans,” said Dr. Fernando Martinez, medical director of blood transfusion services and donor operations at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “We don’t have the technology to make artificial blood yet.”

Dr. Robert Desimone, director of transfusion medicine in New York, has seen the most dramatic shortage of blood donations over the last decade or more, but has had problems with blood supply since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Said that. Presbyterian Hospital in New York City / Weil Cornell Medicine.

He said the blockade in the spring of 2020 stopped blood donations, along with everything else related to going out in public. When the hospital postponed everything except the most medically necessary procedures, that need also diminished at first. But now that people have begun to re-schedule those procedures, the need for them has increased dramatically.

But blood donation is not. And they continue to decline with the proliferation of all new COVID-19 variants.

“It was like a roller coaster to us, controlling the blood supply,” said Desimone.

Still, giving blood isn’t just good for the recipient, experts say. Regular blood donations can also benefit donors.

Blood donors are provided with a series of health examinations to determine their eligibility for blood donation. This includes questions about medication. Traveling to countries with a high incidence of blood-borne diseases such as malaria. Whether they have a sexually transmitted disease. Or if they have recently tattooed.

If you pass this screening, you will have a “mini physical examination” that includes blood pressure, temperature, and pulse measurements. It also contains a small blood sample to test for infections and measure hemoglobin levels, which indicate the amount of iron in human blood. Low-level people may be anemic and cannot donate.

“We also diagnose high blood pressure and arrhythmias. We also check for infections,” says De Simone. “Finding something like that can change your life.”

However, Martinez said blood donations should not be used by people with dangerous health behaviors as an opportunity to see if their behavior caused an infectious disease. “In the past, people did that, and they weren’t honest with us,” he said. Those who engage in dangerous health behaviors such as the use of illegal drugs in the veins or who test positive for infectious diseases are rejected as donors.

There is no long list of things people have to do to prepare for a donation, but before making a donation, you should be well hydrated, have a good breakfast, and not smoke or drink day or night. Best, De Simone said. You should also plan not to drink alcohol immediately afterwards to maintain proper hydration.

According to Martinez, the biggest benefit for donors is knowing that they helped those in need and probably saved their lives.

“It can really raise the spirit,” he said. “If a person is in the hospital and needs blood, he relies on a donor who decides to donate an hour of his time to help someone he doesn’t know.”

Desimone said she wanted to see younger adults give blood. “They are the healthiest donor population in the world,” he said, but they are less likely to donate than older people.

According to Martinez, two basic blood donations are needed. Whole blood is the most common. In addition to good health, donors weigh at least 110 pounds and should be 17 years old in most states. You can donate every 56 days or up to 6 times a year.

Platelet donations can be made 24 times a year, but take longer – about 3 hours instead of 1 hour. Platelets are small pieces of cells that help form blood clots and stop bleeding, helping people undergoing cancer treatment, major surgery, or serious injuries, and blood disorders. Always needed to help someone with. To extract platelets, draw blood from one arm, use a machine to remove the platelets, and return the remaining blood components to the other arm of the donor.

Type O Negative is the most common type of blood used for blood transfusions when the blood type is unknown. This is because it can be given to anyone. However, it is always in high demand as only 7% of the population has this type.

But to replenish the country’s blood supply, all blood types are needed, Martinez said. “Whoever wants to shed blood, we take them.”

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Laura Williamson