According to ABC News the yearly demand for blood is increased by 6 percent annually in the U.S. but the supply is only boosted by 3 percent. The Red Cross is urging volunteers to give blood in order to avoid unwanted shortages like the ones from last year.
Most loyal blood donors are away on vacation or have scheduled time off during the summer, thus decreasing the supply of the vital hospital resource. However the demand is as high as always, with some areas even reporting an increase in their local need due to tourist injuries and a flow of increased population during the summer months.
Regardless of blood type all donors are welcome to participate in the nation-wide blood drives or even organize them.
The Red Cross website offers information on where to donate or how to get involved. Even if a person has already donated they can still help by volunteering as a part of the American Red Cross Blood Services member.
People can also host blood drives in partnership with Red Cross and can also spread the news about such events to friends and family. Each Volunteer can save a life or possibly more since the blood donated is split into different products like red cells, plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate.
Healthy donors can volunteer to give blood every 2 months and about 50 percent of donors regularly do so. Many scientists believe that donating blood also reduces the levels of unwanted iron in your blood and reduces the risk of heart attack.
Another small perk to donating blood is that every time you donate you get a mini-physical consisting of a blood pressure and cholesterol count, accompanied by a refreshment and a sincerely thankful smile.
In some countries volunteers also receive a detailed copy of the analysis standard performed on donated blood which contains a lot of information about the patient’s blood. These analyses are always performed in order to test the blood for certain markers and reduce the danger of transferring a disease from the donor to the receiving patient.
Some countries offer special perks by law in order to help increase the number of donors , like half price passes for public transport, or a day off from work.
Image Source: markedmarketer.blogspot.ro
