January Is National Blood Donor Month: How You Can Help

Even if temperatures are below zero. Even if the streets aren't plowed. Even if hot chocolate and s'mores are the only things on your agenda this weekend.

Giving blood should be added to your to-do list this month, blood banks say.

January is National Blood Donor Month, an especially crucial time to give, as donations are dangerously low.

Blood drives across the country see drops in donations during the winter months -- a challenge for blood banks since the shelf life of blood is so short, according to MLive.com.

Colleen O'Callaghan, a donor recruitment representative from the American Red Cross, told MLIve.com:

"We have to consistently recycle. If we don't have a good collection every single day we could have a hospital underserved...Every 12 seconds someone in the United States needs some sort of blood transfusion. One donation can help up to three people."

According the American Red Cross, donations take about 8-10 minutes, depending on the donation type. Donating platelets, red cells or plasma can take longer.

On Monday, WBNG in New York reported on the process, and the time it takes after giving to save a life:

[The blood] is shipped off to be tested and then it gets separated into plasma, platelets, and red blood cells. Then the blood is tested and once it shows to be clean, it is distributed to hospitals...After you have donated blood the process takes about three days before it is used to save lives.

WATCH:

Regional promotions, like in New York and Pennsylvania, are giving potential donors extra incentive to give this winter season. Give a Pint. Get a Pound offers a pound of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee to volunteer blood donors through the month of January -- a thank you for literally giving of themselves to help those in need.

Read more about the month for donating at the American Red Cross and schedule a blood donation appointment today.

Comments

[editor]

01:04 PM on 01/08/2011

By the way; has anyone ever told rush limbaugh; that he likely has some Black donated blood in him after all those hospital visits of his...

[ecotopian]

12:59 AM on 01/06/2011

January is also national cold and flu season month. If you have had either within a certain period of time, you can't give blood. Which might explain why there is a problem.

[mdiff]

11:29 PM on 01/05/2011

I tried to donate every time there is a drive (which is usually all the time) but have been turned away because I had been to my home country (India)..I know lots of my friends who tried but have been turned away for the same reason. Not sure, if anyone is collecting such statistics, and making some amendments to the rules?

[StarWarsHippie]

04:14 PM on 01/05/2011

I'd donate but as a former needle user I'm not sure they'd want it, even though I haven't used a needle in almost four years and have repeatedly tested negative for everything.

I just learned from reading the comments that openly gay men are not allowed to donate that's really messed up.

[Newthron]

03:45 PM on 01/05/2011

Don't let the system vampirize you.

[xmcknight]

02:13 PM on 01/05/2011

I tried to give blood, but was turned away because I happened to have been married to a Nigerian man... :-(

[Newthron]

03:45 PM on 01/05/2011

I wanted to laugh.

[rndmtngrl]

02:00 PM on 01/05/2011

I used to donate blood, platelets and plasma until they decided that anyone who lived in Europe during the '80s could no longer donate due to the 'mad cow' disease discovered there. When I inquired why I was blocked but people here weren't yet MC's been discovred here, I received no answer.

[Peggy Chenault]

02:34 PM on 01/05/2011

Me as well. My husband and I were stationed in Germany and have been told that both of us in addition to the child born in Germany and the one conceived in Germany may never give blood due to the risk of mad cow. too bad as I am the universal donor and I used to give blood all the time.

[Mortifyd]

09:33 PM on 01/05/2011

Seconded. Lived overseas in the 70s and 80s as a dependent and I am banned for life because of MCD.

[bushwickfreddy]

01:56 PM on 01/05/2011

I would love to donate blood, but as an openly gay man I'm banned (for life) from donating. At 42, I don't engage in high risk behaviors, I've never had an STD and I'm HIV negative. However, if I opted to not disclose truthfully my sexual orientation, the Red Cross would happily take my blood. This ban has got to end. It will be interesting if our newly elected Congress will weigh in on this in the coming year.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37599992/ns/health-aids/

[dpavsek]

01:11 PM on 01/05/2011

The Red Cross needs to review its policies. I am a gay man who has been in a monogomous relationships for almost 15 years and married in the DC last June. I have no STDs and have consistenly tested negative for HIV. But because I am gay I cannot donate blood, even though in my younger days I donated at least once every quarter. If I were a promiscous straight man I would be permitted to donate. This is stupid. The Red Cross tests all blood before using it, so even if an HIV positive person donated - and yes straights get the infection as well - then they would find it and not use the blood. There are many civiclly conscious gay people who would happily donate again.

[CHMB]

02:46 PM on 01/05/2011

Canadian Blood Servies is just as backwards in that regard. It was taken to court and the man lost.

[totaleclipse]

12:48 PM on 01/05/2011

I have been trying to donate blood or platelets for the last decade as have many of my friends. However the Red Cross refuses to accept blood from anyone who lived in a European country hit with Mad Cow disease (Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease) during the 80's and 90's for a period longer than 3 months. Donations from people who resided in sub-Sahara Africa are also not always welcome. Add to this the piercings/tattoo ban and there is a HUGE section of under 40 year-olds that are NOT ALLOWED to donate blood. If you are planning elective surgery and are not allowed to donate blood, you should donate for yourself prior to surgery so as not to use up the scarce resources.

[justsaynomore08]

01:30 PM on 01/05/2011

It's amazingly frustrating. They really need to review their policies. I used to donate routinely (pretty much as frequently as they allowed) and even did plasmapheresis donations. Sometime around 2000 or 2001 they decided I was no longer eligible to donate because I lived in germany in the 80's (was an army brat and left europe in 1990). Despite that I have lived there in over 20 years and am young and healthy I am not allowed to donate.

[xmcknight]

02:16 PM on 01/05/2011

It's so ridiculous, these bans...At the height of the Haitian Earthquake Crisis, the Red Cross turned me away. Why? Because I used to be married to a man from Nigeria. WTF?!?

And to make it even worse, the friend I went with was also turned away...Why? Because she had lived in England for 5 years in the 80's... HUH?!? They're effing NUTS!

[ainfl]

12:12 PM on 01/05/2011

I'm a regular donor for the past decade and I encourage everyone to please give. If you don't have money or time for a charity, donating blood is a life-giving act. For the more hardcore, such as myself, you can also register in the national bone marrow donor program. Political ideology aside, we're all human and should try to help each other in whatever way we are able.

[CHMB]

11:03 AM on 01/05/2011

I'd love to give blood, as I'm sure a lot of people would. However, I am unable to because I've had tattoos and piercings in the last 6 months.

[Heather Barber]

02:32 PM on 01/05/2011

I gave blood a few weeks after getting my tattoo. The state I got my tattoo in is regulated so I answered honestly and then told them then state when they questioned me. Check on the Red Cross website, you may be able to donate.

[CHMB]

02:48 PM on 01/05/2011

I can't. Canadian Blood Services is so backwards. The City I live in has incredibly stringent policies on tattoo and piercing shops. They shops have to keep the wrapping for sterilized equipment and tools to keep track of clients and such.

It's been less than 6 months, and it's horrible. The fact that there is a blood shortage and people actively want to give blood and we can't in incredibly frustrating.