5 Things You May Not Know About Donating Blood

Giving blood is an essential and meaningful way to give back to the community, but how much do you really know about it? Here are some lesser know facts …

1.  Blood donations are needed daily.

According to Alecia Lipton of the Hoxworth Blood Center, area demand calls for collecting at least 300 units a day of whole blood and 40 units of platelets. That takes into account anticipated needs of routine daily operations and scheduled surgeries at the 31 area hospitals affiliated with Hoxworth.

According to Hoxworth, recently, just one patient required 200 donations. The need is great and constant.

2. If you’re donating in response to a tragedy, you’re not alone.

The days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks brought in tremendous amounts of blood donations, Lipton said. “People want to help, and it doesn’t cost anything,” she said. After the Orlando nightclub shootings last month, people lined up outside Central Florida blood banks to donate, and folks in Greater Cincinnati also wanted to help. “We told people they can donate in honor of the victims, but that their blood would remain in our area,” Lipton said. “[Orlando] had so many people turn out that Sunday, they were flush with blood products.”

3. If you want to be most helpful, don’t wait for a tragedy to donate.

“The takeaway from Orlando is you really need to have that blood already on the shelves,” Lipton said. “If something like Orlando happened in Cincinnati, we would not have enough blood to meet the need. We would need to rely on centers outside our area.” That doesn’t mean Columbus, Indianapolis and Louisville, either. We would need to call Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa to supplement the local blood supply.

4. Summer is a great time to give.

Lipton said with people taking vacations and schools closed, donations drop, but demand doesn’t. “The bad thing is usage actually goes up in the summer, with accidents and more scheduled surgeries,” she said.

On average, 38 percent of the population is eligible to donate, but only three percent do. And while many people do not anticipate needing a blood transfusion themselves, it is estimated that at some point during their lifetime, 1 in 7 people will need a blood transfusion.

5. When supply gets critically low, Hoxworth sounds the alarm.

You’ll hear appeals for donations on TV and radio news. Hoxworth also issues social-media appeals via Facebook and Twitter and auto-texts its donor base.

Want to donate? Click the button below to find a time and location that work for you.