The Worlds Most Renewable Resource

By: Michelle Phan

The average adult has about ten pints of blood circulating their body. Losing more
than four pints of blood would be life threatening. However, donating one pint of
blood could save the lives of three people. Blood is what gives a person life.
Reasons to Donate
Every two seconds, someone is in need of blood. Over 40,000 pints of blood is used
every day in the U.S. The blood supply needs to constantly be replenished. Human
blood cannot be replaced it can only come from donors, like you. Approximately
38% of our population is eligible to give blood, but of those eligible, less than 10%
do. So, why isnt the other 28% donating? Who knows? But there are plenty of
reasons as to why everyone who can donate should.
Blood transfusions save lives
One pint of blood can help save 3 people
You receive a fee mini-physical
Youll learn your blood type
It can reduce your risk of cancer
Your new replenished blood cells can carry oxygen more efficiently
You can receive incentives
You can become a hero

Donation Process
Donating blood takes roughly an hour of your time and you can only donate once
every 56 days. So how can you not take one hour out of the 1,344 hours to
potentially save three lives? The whole process is really simple.
You want to make sure youre hydrated before going to donate.
Once at the donating location, youll register and read about basic eligibility
and donation information.
Youll receive a mini-physical and answer a questionnaire about your health
history.
If you are eligible to donate, a pint of blood will be drawn in about ten
minutes.
You will then receive refreshments and can go about your day after about 1015 minutes.
Lastly, youll leave feeling a sense of accomplishment knowing youve helped
save lives.
If you began donating blood at age 17 and donated every 56 days until you
reached 76, you would have donated 48 gallons of blood, potentially helping save
more than 1,000 lives!
Importance
For every seven people that enter a hospital, one person needs blood. What would
happen to the person if all that would help them survive was blood and the hospital
had a blood supply shortage? Would they live? Would they die? The answer depends
how much blood loss has occurred. Some people would live; many would die. But
what would happen if the hospital had the blood the patient needed? The patient
would live.

Of the present blood donors, only half give blood twice a year. If every donor gave
blood three times a year, there would rarely be a blood supply shortage. If the other
28% of eligible donors gave blood just once a year, there would rarely be a blood
supply shortage. Think about how many people would be saved if hospitals were
equipped with a never-ending supply of blood. So why not give blood? Theres
absolutely no reason not to.
You can give someone the gift of life.