You might not realize it, but by donating blood, you’re essentially giving the gift of life to someone in need in your community. Blood donations are constantly needed to ensure that there’s an ample fresh supply on hand to provide for those who need blood transfusions because of illness or injury.
Imagine if you or one of your family members needed blood in an emergency and it just wasn’t available? Taking an hour out of your busy schedule to donate at our upcoming blood drive can protect our community’s blood supply and help save the life of someone in our community.
The aim is to raise global awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion and of the critical contribution voluntary, unpaid donors make to national health systems. The day also provides an opportunity to call to action to governments and national health authorities to provide adequate resources and put into place systems and infrastructures to increase the collection of blood from voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors. Safe blood and blood products and their transfusion are critical aspects of care and public health. They save millions of lives, improve the health and quality of many patients every day. The need for blood is universal, but access to blood for all those who need it is not. Blood shortages are particularly acute in developing countries.
Through the covid-19 pandemic, the Blood Banks across the globe need the help of blood donors including blood drives to meet the needs of patient care.
This year’s slogan, “Give blood and keep the world beating,” aims to raise awareness during a time of crisis, reaching out to all eligible donors to contribute towards maintaining supplies of safe blood.
One Pint Can Go a Long Way
ZHL Rajasthan wants to create awareness that when you donate a pint of blood, you could be helping more than one patient. A pint of blood can produce two or three of the following transfusable products:
- Red Cells
- Platelets
- Plasma
- Cryoprecipitate
Depending upon the type of donation process, a donor can either donate whole blood, which contains all four components or donate only a specific component through a process known as apheresis. A single apheresis platelet donation provides one transfusion dose, which otherwise would have needed to be extracted from five individual whole blood donations.
Types of Donation
There are many ways you can make a difference and save lives. Ziqitza Rajasthan helps you identify and understand types of donations.
Whole Blood
- Whole blood is the most common type of donation.
- Blood from one donation can be divided into two components: red blood cells and plasma.
- The average adult has about 10 pints of blood, but a typical whole-blood donation is only 1 pint.
- Red blood cells have a short shelf life. They only last for 6 weeks (42 days).
- Donating whole blood takes only about 10-15 minutes.
- You can donate whole blood every 56 days—and we encourage you to donate as often as possible.
Platelets
- Platelets are small, disc-shaped cells that aid in blood clotting.
- They are donated most often to cancer patients, organ recipients, and those undergoing heart surgeries.
- Patients who need platelets often require multiple transfusions. That’s why it’s so important to donate as often as you can.
- Platelets do not last long. They have a shelf life of just 5 days.
- Those who have A, A-negative, B, B-negative, AB or AB-negative blood types are strongly encouraged to donate platelets.
- Donors are connected to a machine that separates platelets and some plasma from the blood and returns the red cells (and most of the plasma) back to the donor.
- Donating platelets takes approximately 90 minutes.
- You can donate platelets every 7 days, up to 24 times a year.
Plasma
- Plasma is the light yellow liquid in your blood that makes up 50% of total blood volume. It contains proteins that help control bleeding and fight infections.
- It’s used to treat various types of bleeding disorders. It’s also given to patients who have suffered major traumatic injuries.
- Plasma can be frozen for up to a year.
- If you have type AB blood, you are a universal plasma donor.
- People who have blood types AB, AB-negative, A, A-negative, B or B-negative also are ideal donors for platelets.
- Donors are connected to a machine that separates out plasma and returns red cells to the body.
- Plasma donation takes about 40 minutes.
- You may donate plasma every 28 days.
Double Red Cells
- Red blood cells are the most commonly transfused blood component.
- Donors are hooked up to a machine that collects the red cells and returns most of the plasma and platelets to the body.
- Donations from type O donors are crucial to maintaining blood levels in the body.
- Double red-cell donors with type O, O-negative, B or B-negative types, as well as donors with Rh-negative blood are in short supply.
- You must meet higher hemoglobin and height-to-weight requirements to donate double red cells.
- Double red cell donations take approximately 40 minutes.
- You can donate double red blood cells once every 16 weeks (112 days).
On the occasion of its 6th and 7th anniversary, Ziqitza Healthcare 108 ambulance service every year tries to organize a blood donation camp in its premises to commemorate the completion of a glorious journey. The camp was organized across 30 districts of Odisha, in which over 1200 units of blood were collected. The employees and crew members of Ziqitza donated blood for a great cause. There have been many instances where the Ambulance driver or EMT who had dropped the patient has donated blood and saved the patient’s life. We at Ziqitza Limited understand donating blood is a great way to give back to your community and potentially save a life by only giving up an hour of your time.