Have You Ever Donated Blood?
SodaHead News
2012/08/05 17:11:06
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The American Red Cross is facing a dilemma that could end up affecting millions of Americans. According to The Red Cross, as per USA Today, the organization's national blood supply is at its lowest level in 15 years. What that means is, for whatever reason, less people are donating blood, which is bad news for patients in need of just that.
The organization says summers are normally bad for donations because schools that host blood drives are closed and people are often on vacation. However, this summer has been worse than usual. Severe heat and bad storms have caused people to opt to stay home and have led to the cancellation of various blood drives throughout the country.
Giving blood may seem "scary" to some, but you never know if your donation will end up saving another person's life. And if The Red Cross is unable to up donation levels quickly, doctors around the country are going to have to start canceling surgeries. "We need to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't get to that point," said Richard Benjamin, chief medical officer for the Red Cross.
The organization says summers are normally bad for donations because schools that host blood drives are closed and people are often on vacation. However, this summer has been worse than usual. Severe heat and bad storms have caused people to opt to stay home and have led to the cancellation of various blood drives throughout the country.
Giving blood may seem "scary" to some, but you never know if your donation will end up saving another person's life. And if The Red Cross is unable to up donation levels quickly, doctors around the country are going to have to start canceling surgeries. "We need to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't get to that point," said Richard Benjamin, chief medical officer for the Red Cross.
Read More: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-07-...
Top Opinion
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relic 2012/08/05 20:06:00
Blood is not acceptable anymore (~C
I tried giving platelets every other week - but my veins are too weak and the needle kept popping out [which results in their throwing it away. they don't even keep and use the amount they were able to get before mission-failure. go figure.] so I'm back on the whole-blood schedule. :(
;P
I wish more companies would do a blood drive on the job sites. Many people who may not would if they could be shamed into it at work. And for this? It is definitely important enough to shame a few folks.
Woo!
Many years ago I started donating a pint of blood a month because of my mother.
I was told by the Red Cross in Detroit to just "show this letter to the hospital and the blood that you are giving will be credited to her.
When mom had her Open Heart operation it took a total of 12 pints of blook from the beginning of the operation to just about 5 days from her getting out of ICU.
Dad got the bill to be submitted to his insurance company and I noticed that mom was charged for the blood $20 a pint, btw my dad could not read or write. I called the hospital and told them that I submitted the letter from the Detroit Chapter of the Red Cross and they informed me that they could not do that...
I called the Detroit Chapter when I returned to work, I was working in Detroit at that time, and the attitude I got from them over the phone was enough to make me take some time from work to talk to them personally....Talk about arrogant sons of beeches....I remember what the lady said when I showed them the original letter and my donors card...OH WE GIVE THOSE TO EVERYONE IT DOESNT MEAN A THING.....
That was in 1964 and have not donated blood since.
One thing that bugs me is, if you do donate regularly, but have to stop for a stretch for whatever reason, they'll keep calling you, like bill collectors. Somtimes 4-5 times a day.
We have a couple friends who refuse to donate, simply because of the all the calls they got asking them to donate again, after they donated once, on a whim, at a county fair or something.
Sorry for your experience with your mom. That's actually fraudulent, if you ask me.
Ok, if they are so "non profit" please tell me why so many of them are driving better cars then you and I, living in better houses, and bump elbows with the upper crust at $1,000 a plate dinners?
I had an open heart operation in 2005 took 5 units of blood...cost per unit $150.00 you do the math and I have the print out to prove it.
You see the Red Cross is supposed to be a non profit thing and they profit from donations both with money and blood.
And Obama says that our healthcare is the best in the world now...funny my sister in Canada says it was fashioned afterh the UK and Canada...and she cannot stand Canadas healthcare.
I'm not going to get into details to many Obama supporters on Soda Head.
The Red Cross is a racket; my uncle would never deal with them, because when he was shipping out for WW2, the RC and the Salvation Army were both there with sandwiches and coffee for the soldiers. The difference was, the RC was charging. He said, "here are all these guys, shipping out to the war. Many won't be coming back, and they want to charge them for their food." He would never donate a dime to the RC to the day he died.
I don't have a problem with them charging SOMETHING for blood; after all, there is a lot of work to be done between your arm and that arm. They have to pay the people to take the blood, they have to pay to have it all tested, they have to pay people to manage the system...but $150 a unit for blood that is freely donated, from an organization that supposedly gets most of its funds from donations, anyway, is outrageous.
I wont and never will donate...