Reduces Iron Levels For Those With Hemochromatosis
The body needs iron to produce red blood cells. However, around 1 million people in the U.S. have type 1 hereditary hemochromatosis. People with this and other types of hemochromatosis have too much iron in their blood.
The excess iron can deposit into different organs of the body, such as the liver and heart, and affect the way those organs function.
According to a 2003 article by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , people with hemochromatosis can benefit from phlebotomy, which is a similar process to donating blood.
People with this condition are allowed to donate blood. In other words, for those with hemochromatosis, donating blood can be a treatment option as well as a way of helping others.
Not all agencies allow donations from people with this condition, but many use their blood in the general donation pool.
Consent Form For Blood Donation For Medical Research
If you agree to participate in a blood research project, you must sign a consent form. The exact content of the form will vary between projects, but it may be a statement that includes details such as:
- An understanding of the aims of the research project .
- You are willing to donate the required amount of blood.
- The blood donation procedure and any side effects .
- The blood will be used purely for research, not for transfusion or any other medical purpose.
- All information you provide is confidential.
- Participation is voluntary and you can change your mind at any stage.
Health Benefits Of Donating Blood
Blood donation not only makes the receivers life good but also helps the donor to maintain good health. The health benefits of donating blood are mentioned below.
Prevents Hemochromatosis
Health benefits of blood donation include reduced risk of hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis is a health condition that arises due to excess absorption of iron by the body. This may be inherited or may be caused due to alcoholism, anemia or other disorders. Regular blood donation may help in reducing iron overload. Make sure that the donor meets the standard blood donation eligibility criteria.
Anti-cancer Benefits
Blood donation helps in lowering the risk of cancer. By donating blood the iron stores in the body are maintained at healthy levels. A reduction in the iron level in the body is linked with low cancer risk.
Maintains Healthy Heart & Liver
Blood donation is beneficial in reducing the risk of heart and liver ailments caused by the iron overload in the body. Intake of iron-rich diet may increase the iron levels in the body, and since only limited proportions can be absorbed, excess iron gets stored in heart, liver, and pancreas. This, in turn, increases the risk of cirrhosis, liver failure, damage to the pancreas, and heart abnormalities like irregular heart rhythms. Blood donation helps in maintaining the iron levels and reduces the risk of various health ailments.
Weight loss
Stimulates Blood Cell Production
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Platelet Donation Vs Plasma Donation:
Platelets help your body create clots to stop bleeding. Platelet donations are critical for patients who are fighting cancer, chronic diseases and traumatic injuries.
The collection process is unique and a bit different than the whole blood donations, both arms are involved. One arm is used to send blood through the apheresis process using a sterile centrifuge. The centrifuge separates the red blood cells from the platelets. The heavier red cells sink to the bottom during the process. These red blood cells are returned to you through the other arm. Its important to note that an appointment needs to be scheduled at a specific Red Cross donation center rather than at a mobile blood drive.
Why Donating Blood Is Good
The benefits of donating blood include good health and a reduced risk of cancer and hemochromatosis. It may help in reducing the risk of damage to the liver and and even assist in improving health and reducing obesity.
What are the benefits of donating blood?
Health benefits of donating blood include good health and reduced risk of cancer and hemochromatosis. It helps in reducing the risk of damage to liver and pancreas. Donating blood may help in improving cardiovascular health and reducing obesity.
What to bring as you give blood?
According to the Red Cross, donating blood takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. Sitting in place for that amount of time will give you plenty of mental space to get deep into a book. Bring a novel, bring some investigative journalism, or bring a few books . Books are a wonderful way to spend your time giving blood.
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Whole Blood Donation Vs Power Red Donation
As the name implies, whole blood donation includes all of the contents within the blood. This includes red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Whole blood donations are typically used to help patients fight cancer, blood disorders and traumatic injuries.
The Power Red donation enables the donor to safely donate two units of red blood cells at just one appointment! The Power Red donation is similar to the whole blood donation, except a phlebotomist uses a special machine to ensure two units of exclusively red blood cells are collected. The machine returns the other blood components to you. Think of it as a more efficient way to yield more fuel for patients. The Red Cross highly encourages donors with O+, O-, A- and B- blood types to try a Power Red donation. For more information on eligibility to donate visit the power red donations information page.
Blood Donation For Medical Research
About 8 out of every 10 Australians will experience a blood-related disease at some point in their lives.
Blood clots can cause heart attack or stroke, and blood cancers make up about 15% of cancers in Australia. New treatments for these life-threatening conditions depend on medical research.Research scientists need donated blood to investigate the causes of blood-related diseases and to test newly-developed treatments including:
- Anti-clotting enzymes particular enzymes help to break down and remove blood clots from the bloodstream. Understanding this process may help to develop new treatments for life-threatening blood clots.
- Platelets investigating how and why platelets stick to blood vessel walls can help determine why life-threatening conditions like heart attack and stroke occur.
- Blood stem cells create blood components . Malfunctioning stem cells are thought to cause blood-related illnesses . Investigating stem cell functions can lead to better treatments.
- Myeloma cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. Donated blood is used to test the effectiveness of new treatments.
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What Does Blood Donation Feel Like
Most people describe only feeling the needle pricking the skin as it enters, without other discomfort. Very few donors have other issues during or after donating.
After giving blood, some people may feel a little dizzy or weak. That is why it is important that you rest for several minutes before leaving. It is also best to eat a snack and have a drink of water or juice right after you donate blood.
Why Blood Donations Are So Important
According to the American Red Cross, while approximately 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, only about 10 percent of those who are eligible actually donate. The demand for donated blood in our nations hospitals, however, is consistently high. In fact, it is estimated that roughly 40,000 pints of this life-saving blood are used every single day, and the demand never stops.
Also, the Red Cross is currently reporting that there are national shortages of donated blood due to the severe winter weather throughout the country, which has made it difficult for people to get to donation centers. And with January being National Blood Donor Month, it is an ideal time to educate the public about the need for blood donations.
Clearly, the current short supply is a primary reason to donate blood, but the need is always present. For many people, the reason they donate blood is simply that they feel it is the right thing to do. After all, about one of every seven people who go to a hospital end up needing donated blood as part of their treatment. And there is no such thing as synthetic blood. In other words, it cant be manufactured so donations are the only way to keep the supply fully stocked.
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Blood Donation Requirements For Medical Research
Donor requirements for medical research may be slightly different from those for Lifeblood donors. For example, people who usually dont qualify as Lifeblood donors can qualify as donors for medical research.
To qualify to become a blood donor for medical research:
- Be aged 18 to 60.
- Not taking anti-clotting or anti-inflammatory medications .
- Tel. to make an appointment. Appointments are available Monday to Friday between 8:30 and 10am.
Types Of Blood Donation
The main types of blood donation include:
- Blood a standard donation, consisting of plasma, red and white blood cells, platelets, antibodies and other components.
- Plasma plasma is separated from the other components by a special machine, and the red blood cells are returned to the donor in cycles throughout the donation.
- Platelets done in a similar way to plasma donation, but the red cells and plasma are returned to the donor.
Less common donations include:
- Autologous prior to a scheduled operation or transfusion, a person donates blood for their own use.
- Directed or designated donation a donor can give blood that will be used for a specific person.
Autologous and directed donations are now rare, occurring only in special medical cases. These blood donations have the same risks as regular blood donations.
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What Happens To The Donated Blood
The donation is tested for blood type and for certain infectious diseases, but you should never donate blood for the purpose of getting tested for infectious diseases, you should see your doctor for that instead. Each pint of donated blood goes through some laboratory tests for infectious diseases before it can be used for patient care. If it does not pass these tests, the blood cannot be used and is safely thrown away. The donor will be notified when this happens.
The blood then goes to the lab where it is tested for blood type and the red blood cells, platelets, and plasma are separated. The blood is usually available for patient use about 1 to 2 days after collection.
Why Is Blood Donation Important
Key points:
- Donating blood has multiple health benefits, such as balancing iron levels in the blood, reducing the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular accidents, among others.
- A donor can help up to 3 people with a single donation.
Altruistic blood donation is a solidarity action that helps save lives and keep many people with certain diseases healthy. Its importance lies in the need for hospitals to perform daily transfusions, some of the most recurrent cases for which the blood bank is used are:
- Women with obstetric complications such as ectopic pregnancies or bleeding before, during, or after childbirth.
- Children with severe anemia, often caused by malaria or malnutrition.
- People with serious injuries caused by accidents or natural disasters.
- Patients undergoing complex surgical and medical interventions.
- Cancer patients.
Currently and due to the pandemic, altruistic blood donations have decreased, so blood banks reserves are beginning to be affected. In addition to this, the constant need for regular donations exists because blood can only be stored for a limited time and then becomes unusable.
Your help as a regular donor is essential to guarantee the availability of blood when and where it is needed, since, despite the contingency, hospitals continue to attend to all kinds of emergencies daily, in which donation can become a fundamental part to save the life of one or more people.
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Blood Donation Benefits Everyone
The health benefits of donating blood are considerablebut of course, the most important part of the process is helping to save lives. Donating blood is good for you, and its even better for all the people who desperately need the help.
If you dont mind blood draws or the sight of blood, you might want to consider becoming a medical assistant. These professionals save lives every day just by doing their jobs. If youd like to learn more about medical assistants, check out our article, Medical Assisting Skills: What You Need to Be Confident in Your Career.
*The study referenced was conducted on nearly 3,000 middle-aged men living in Eastern Finland.EDITORS NOTE: This article was originally published in March 2015. It has since been updated to include information relevant to 2018. Insights from Patenaude and Dragoo remain from the original article.
What Happens When You Donate Blood
MNT: What does the process of donating blood look like?
Dr. Joel Newman: It depends whereabouts youre giving and everywhere does it slightly differently, but in general, theres either a questionnaire or a health check, either on the phone beforehand or physically in the blood donation center.
They want to make sure that you are well, because, sometimes, if people are starting to feel unwell before they donate blood and then a day or two later on, they might become unwell with an infection, theres always that potential that that infection was in bloodstream at the time of the donation. And, for some blood products, that can be an issue if thats given through the donation to someone else.
So, its just a simple health check to make sure you are well, and well enough to donate blood, because blood donation is a voluntary and, you know, they need to make sure theyre not going to cause you harm by taking blood from you.
There will often be a finger prick test or a blood test from the vein, just to make sure youre not anemic prior to giving that blood transfusion to make sure theyre not going to cause you more harm by .
And, as part of that health check, there would be lots of screening questions just to make sure you are in a good position to make sure you havent had any exotic holidays to areas where there might be infections that you might unknowingly pass on, and so on. So there lots different rules about .
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But Why Do We Celebrate Blood Donor Day
Today, June 14th we are celebrating world blood donation day every year. This is one special day that we have to celebrate. This is the moment we have to memorize the great personality and Nobel Prize recipient Karl Landsteiner. He is the man behind the discovery of ABO blood group system. Now, everybody has awareness of blood group system and importance of blood donation.
The Surprising Benefits Of Donating Blood
Every two seconds, someone in the United States requires a blood transfusion, according to the American Red Cross. This year, however, the United States is facing its worst blood shortage in more than a decade, the Red Cross says.
Donating blood saves lives, says Robert DeSimone, MD, director of transfusion medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, who is encouraging people to do their part and make an appointment to donate.
For as long as medicine has been around, weve had to rely on the goodness of other people to give us blood when we need it, says Sarah Vossoughi, MD, the medical director of apheresis and associate director of transfusion medicine and cellular therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. We really need people who want to come and donate. The fact that we can store blood and use it when we need it in partswhether you need the red cells, the plasma, or the plateletshas been a huge medical advance.
While blood donors dont expect to be rewarded for the act of kindness, rolling up your sleeve comes with some surprising health benefits. Heres what you get when you give blood:
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Why Donate Blood During A Pandemic
MNT: And what would you say to people who may be specifically scared of coming in to donate now, during the pandemic? Why is it still important to donate at this time, and is it still safe to do it?
Dr. Joel Newman: is still important now, although the use of blood transfusions from the perspective of surgery has decreased a little there are fewer operations happening.
are still recovering in terms of procedures, and so the need for blood transfusions will start to increase again.
The areas where you give blood are made safe people are wearing the appropriate protective equipment, the spacing of chairs is done appropriately they are safe places for you to go and have these things done.
And the other thing to think about is that blood has a shelf life. After its been donated, depending on where in the world you have it done, its shelf life is between about 35 and 42 days, depending on which area you are in, and after that, it can no longer be used.
So if no one donated blood from the beginning of the pandemic till now, we would have run out of blood.
People need to keep donating. Yes, the usage isnt as high at the moment as it normally is, there arent many traumas out there because people are staying indoors, but there is still a need for it.
MNT: Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers as we draw to a close?