Can You Spare a Drop?

So last Thursday WNC held a blood drive in the campus parking lot. The bloodmobile from United Blood Services was there and I had one of the first appointments to donate inside! I was a little worried that they weren't going to let me give since I had had a transfusion 16 months ago. Luckily, and much to my happiness, I was four months safe! So up on a recliner I went and began my donation. My bag was full in just 6 minutes and I was in and out in no time! Poor Dwayne though, he has been permanantly deferred from giving blood. When he was young his dad was stationed in Germany and it was during the time they think the Mad Cow disease outbreak first began, the early stages when it went undetected. Since it can be stored in the body in a dormant phase they aren't allowing folks to donate that lived there during that time period.

I think anyone who can donate should! It is such an easy way to give back and it is always needed! So, go out there and find a blood drive and donate your blood!

Did you know? It’s a fact: our emergency rooms are using more and more type-O blood each year. That’s because type-O negative blood can be transfused to patients with other blood types. In many emergency situations, hospitals must use type-O blood until the patient is stabilized and blood type is determined. United Blood Services is particularly concerned about attracting new donors with type-O blood and giving current type-O donors opportunities to donate three or four times a year. Transfusion of certain types does not always match the percentage of people in the population who have that type and that’s where the special type-O donors play an important role— they are kind of like everything to everybody!