Transcription:
Donating Blood - Why It's So Important

Melanie Cole (Host): Blood donation is essential to maintaining our community's health. Currently there's a shortage of blood and platelets. Today, we're discussing how you can easily donate blood or platelets and why it's so important right now.

Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole and joining me is Julia Kerner-Pack. She's the Account Manager at the American Red Cross Blood Services. Julia, I'm so glad to have you with us today. Before we get into the shortage, I'd like you to give the listeners a little lesson about blood and platelets. What's the difference? What do you use them for? Give us a little kind of physiology lesson here.

Julia Kerner-Pack: Absolutely. And thank you Melanie, for having me on. It's a pleasure to be here and I'm really looking forward to this opportunity because it's exactly what we need is to get the word out about donating blood. So, blood has four different components to it. There are the red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of your body, your white blood cells that fight infection, or get rid of germs. Your platelets which basically act like glue and help make scabs for cuts and scratches, and then your plasma that carries food and water to all parts of your body. So, there's many different functions that are going on with your body when it comes to blood. But mostly when we're talking about donors, they want to know what their blood type is and how their blood type is used for patients in the hospitals.

So, there's actually 35 blood groups. But we go by two, relatively, and that is the ABO system and the Rh system. So, with the ABO system, if you have an A antigen on your blood, then you're A blood type. If you have a B antigen, you're a B blood type. If you're an A and B antigen, then you're AB positive or negative. And then if you do not have any antigens, then you're the type O. So, the second system is an Rh system and that stands for the positive or negative. So, for instance, if you're an O negative, you do not have the Rh factor, if you are a O positive, you have the Rh factor.

So, why this is so important is when we go to transfuse that blood to another patient, we have to make sure that we're using the right types. But right now, with only a half a day supply of blood in the hospitals on average, it's so important that we have all blood types giving. And may I add as well, all ethnicities because we actually have over 600 antigens on a red blood cell. So, the closer we can get to that match to the patient, the better chances they have for accepting that transfusion.

And I just want to mention something special about platelets. Most people are not aware that there is only five days from the time that the donor gives that donation, it runs through the labs and then it gets sent to the hospital and transfused into the patient. There's only a five day shelf life for platelets. So, very important that people help us out in this endeavor.

Host: Yikes. That's a really scary statistic, Julia. Now again, before we just get into this, cause we're going to, I promise listeners, but we've heard the terms and you just gave us such a great education on the blood types. But we've heard the terms universal blood donor and universal recipient, positives, negatives, generally in the O category. Can you just explain what that means? When you say universal blood donor or universal recipient?

Julia: Right. Well, your universal blood donor would be your O negative blood type because their blood can go to all the A,B and O types. And the universal recipient normally is the, AB because they don't carry the antigen or the negative Rh negative so they can accept blood.

But normally when people come to the hospital, they really just want to know whether or not their blood can be accepted. So, I really want to kind of go into some areas where some people might have misunderstandings of what is acceptable to donate blood. So, I want to direct people always, if you have any questions whatsoever, please visit redcrossblood.org.

Underneath blood donations, there's a section called eligibility requirements and you can go through the medication list. You can go through, what you believe may prevent you from donating. And to just to name a few that are misnomers, for example, a woman came into a blood drive and we require a 12.5 iron level in order for them to donate. They might have come in at a 12.4 and they were deferred and they may think, oh, my iron level is low and I'm anemic, but anemia has many different levels to it. I mean, of course there are some that have so low that they actually need a blood transfusion, but the, in instances where people are maybe a 12.4, it may be a case of just nutritional value. And they may not even know that they were drinking a lot of teas that carry tannins, that bind to the iron and flush it out of their system. They may be focused on eating iron rich foods, but they maybe have forgotten to couple vitamin C with that iron rich food to help the intake and it could happen to that same woman that went to the blood drive within a week, she could be eligible to donate blood with a few changes in diet. So, that's important. And as well as another typical situation is where maybe somebody has high blood pressure. But if it's been controlled by medication, it's sitting within a healthy range, then you're okay to donate.

So, I always want to encourage people to go on redcrossblood.org. Check out the eligibility requirements. And if they don't see anything that prevents them, please come on down to a blood drive. We have the phlebotomist and nurses and they can go over all that information with you in a health history.

Host: So, what is the easiest way to donate? I mean, if we are looking for a blood drive, tell us a little bit about what's going on with these in light of COVID and protocols, because I think that that has probably contributed to the blood shortage we're seeing now. Yes?

Julia: Yeah. We have many factors that are going into the blood shortage, but yes, what's the easiest way. I'm actually having a very good response from a lot of donors about the blood donor app. So, if you go on your mobile phone and you search underneath your app store for blood donor, just a word to the wise, don't search for red cross. It won't come up. You have to search for blood donor. You're able to download that app onto your phone and why donors are telling me over and over again that they love this app is because they get to schedule, cancel, monitor their appointments. They get to view where they can go to donate blood. They get to do what we call a rapid pass the morning of the blood drive, which is the required medical reading and the health history questions we're hoping they complete prior to coming to a blood drive. And then they get to see the journey of their blood. They even get to see maybe a little history about what their blood pressure was the last few times they donated. So, I have a very good response first and foremost, from the blood donor app.

The second way they can go make an appointment is actually visit any internet browser and type in again, redcrossblood.org. We have a huge red box that's very, very visible when you first get onto the site and it asks for a zip code. If you enter a zip code of where you'd like to donate, all the open to the public drives will be available to them. And then to finally answer your last question is, what are we doing in light of staying safe during this time of the pandemic?

And we are requiring that donors are wearing an appropriate mask. And if you come to the drive without an appropriate mask, we do have one for you. We are keeping six foot physical distancing between all donors and we are wiping down surfaces, incessantly in different areas to make sure that we're mitigating any kind of transmission.

So, there are many reasons why we're in an emergency appeal right now. Blood in and of itself, as a whole unit has a 42 days shelf life. And so what we've seen is with the new Delta variant in the last 42 days, our main schools in the area here, have been a little reluctant to bring us on board and back to the schools.

And when we can get maybe 200, 300 signups from one blood drive at a high school, and you times that by how many LA USP high schools we have, you can see the impact gets very real, very quickly. And so as a donor, you only have to be aged 16 to donate blood with a parental consent, which by the way, can be printed out at a blood drive.

So, we do actually want to appeal to parents and ask them, would you be so kind as to ask your children to join you in this endeavor? Because we are only running at a few schools right now. And so if we can get a first time learning student to donate once during high school, when they're in a learning phase, they're much likely to come back for many, many years to come in the future.

Host: Well, that's a great point because they also see their parents doing it, which makes that role model thing happen. So, they think, well, this is a really good, good thing. And also there's, you know, food and juice. So, is all that still going on? You give somebody a couple of cookies. I mean the one near us in Chicago here, it was bagels. This one family always provided bagels and everything. It was, it was nice. Like a little brunch.

Julia: Yeah. We always encourage our sponsors, especially if they're schools to see if they can bring something for breakfast, because lots of our students, they aren't eating breakfast, but we want you to eat a nice hearty meal about an hour before you donate so that you have a good experience. And then yes, you get to choose from Oreos, Chips Ahoy Cheese Its, trail mix, fruit snacks, and juices. So, I've had a couple of donors say they come, they come for the cookies.

Host: I'm one of them. I come the food. I go everywhere for the food. Now, are there any health conditions out there right now? And also in light of COVID and vaccinations and COVID positive. Is there anything health-related that would also turn someone away besides maybe an iron deficiency. Is there a COVID test? Is there anything like that we should know that would make it easier for us to just get right in there and get this done?

Julia: Yes, first and foremost, if you're experiencing any kind of symptoms or if you're not feeling well, please, take time to take care of yourself. We would not want to subject all the people at the blood drive to anything. So, thank you for maintaining at home and trying to get healthy.

But as far as whether or not you just have a pending COVID test, if you've just taken a test and you don't have the results back, then wait until the results come back because we'll most likely defer you if you've come in without knowing what the response was from your test. As far as getting the vaccination, as long as you have not received or are not experiencing any symptoms at the time of the vaccination, then you're fine to donate.

So it's really just a matter of people taking the time to make sure they're feeling well. And then coming down to the blood drive and talking to the health care providers within the health histories cause there's many different types of vaccinations.

Host: Yeah, no, that's such a great point that you made and about taking care of ourselves and really taking care of the community at large and staying home if you feel sick is so important. Because what you're doing, listeners is taking care of the community at large. It takes a village and it takes our blood, all of our blood to help each other.

So, Julia, I'd like you to wrap it up. What would you like the main message to be here about the ease of donating blood and listeners, it doesn't hurt at all. And the fun part of it all which is, you know, as we said, the food, but also the really good feeling that you get from donating blood and knowing that your blood could go save a life or many lives.

Julia: Absolutely. Well, you know, we always say one unit of blood can save up to three lives. And I like to say, if we just stop for a moment and think about the three closest people to us, would we not take time out of our day, an hour to donate blood on their behalf? And how this works is when you donate blood, it's a pay it forward system. So, when you give, you are helping someone in someone's family and it is amazing. It's something that a lot of people don't realize how much it fulfills them until after they've experienced it. And again, on the app, there's the journey of the blood. And if you get a response coming back saying your blood went to a three-year-old in Long Beach, or your blood was used at this hospital, the great feelings you have from the time you took out that hour of that day to be of service to others. It's just amazing. And I also want to say that our mission is to alleviate suffering and it's not just about the patient receiving the blood transfusion, you know, cancer is the number one disease that uses the most amount of blood transfusions.

And in a lot of cases where people have a family member that has cancer, they're feeling very helpless. But if they get a chance to go down and donate blood, then they know they're putting that blood into the system for possible cancer patients. And so that alleviation of suffering, it's across the board in so many forms. So, it is very easy. They say the prick on the finger is usually the worst part of it. It's only eight minutes on the bed for a whole blood donation. A lot of people love to take selfies and share it with their friends and say, look where I'm at and what I'm doing. And would you do it too?

And the staff are just really friendly. We're just grateful that you're all coming down to donate. It's a gift of life and we recognize that. And I always say the last thing is if the patient could get out of the bed and hug you for it, they would.

Host: 100%. What great information. So important. Julia, thank you so much for joining us. And to schedule your blood donation now, today, go on to redcrossblood.org and look up drives in your area. It's easy to do, and I'm sure there's one somewhere close to you. And as Julia said, it's just a very few minutes of your time. It's so easy and you can save many lives. So, go donate your blood today. It's a great thing to do for your community. And that concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. You can always visit our website at henrymayo.com for more information about our hospital and to get connected with one of our providers.

Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for thinking about donating blood today. I'm Melanie Cole.