Could You Be a Blood Donor?

Get the facts and you could save lives

They’ve made donating a family tradition—Dale Lakatosh Sr. (center) of Slatington has been donating blood for more than 55 years. “I have rare AB negative blood, so I donate any time they need me,” says Lakatosh, who also convinced his son, Dale Jr. (right), and grandson Dale III to become donors.

If you’ve ever wanted to make a difference in the world, here’s an easy place to start: donate blood. “Every time you give, you’re helping save the lives of up to four people,” says pathologist Bala Carver, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. Blood components (including red blood cells, plasma and platelets) are used in trauma treatment, surgeries, bone marrow transplants and severe burns.

“To meet the demand of our local hospitals, we need approximately 350 units of blood every day,” says Catherine Palumbo of Miller-Keystone Blood Center, the only supplier of blood products to hospitals in a nine-county area.

Sadly, although 50 percent of Americans are eligible to give blood, only 5-10 percent actually do. The most common excuses are fear of needles and being too busy. “We often have blood shortages during the summer when people are on vacation and in the winter because of colds, flu and the holiday rush,” Carver says. “If eligible donors gave blood just two or three times a year, we’d never run short.”

Donating blood can benefit the donor’s health as well as the recipient’s. “Periodically lowering iron levels can be healthy, especially in men. It lowers the risk for iron excess and stimulates the bone marrow,” says Carver’s colleague, Stacey Smith, M.D.

If you donate, you’ll have a brief health screening that checks your temperature, blood pressure, pulse and iron levels. If your iron is too low, you’ll be deferred until your levels come up. You’ll also learn your blood type—A, B, AB, O; Rh factor positive (+) or negative (-). Your donation is especially valuable if you have a rare type such as AB- or B-, or if you are O-, the “universal donor” type (whose red blood cells can be transfused to anyone).

You’re eligible to donate blood if you:

• Are age 17 or older (there is no upper age limit)
• Weigh at least 110 pounds
• Are in good general health—no fever or symptoms of a cold, flu or stomach virus
• Haven’t donated blood in the last eight weeks (56 days)

“If you have questions about whether you should donate, ask your doctor, especially if you have lung or cardiac disease or problems with your blood pressure,” Smith says.

Giving blood alerted him to a heart problem

After donating more than 5 gallons over a period of years, Peter Noyes, 74, of Mertztown was deferred when a routine predonation screening detected an irregular heartbeat. His doctor sent him to a cardiologist, and tests revealed two blockages. Surgeons at Lehigh Valley Hospital performed a bypass operation in 2004, and Noyes has since requalified as a donor and given another gallon of blood.

Want to Know More about where to donate blood? Call
610-402-CARE or click here.

Published from Healthy You Magazine, July-August 2008

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