Friday, October 19, 2012

Benefits of Blood Donation


Do you know you can save about five Lives every three months? Shocked? Yes, you can save 5 Lives by just donating 1 pint of your blood after every three months. Have you ever thought what is the importance of a single blood donation? Today’s post is dedicated to all those who donate their blood to keep others alive.
What you’ll lose by donating your blood? In fact, nothing. After donating your blood, the plasma is replaced by water and other liquids within 24 to 48 hours while the red blood cells and iron is restored within 45 to 60 days but it is the best practice to donate blood after every three months because the restoration process may take up to 90 days if the donor does not take his meals and other liquids properly within the actual period.

A Single Blood Donation Saves Many Lives:

A single donation can be separates in to three main components.
  • Red Blood cells: Needed for accident and surgery patients.
  • Plasma: Needed for burn and electric shock patients.
  • Platelets: Needed for Cancer and Leukemia patients.

Who needs our Blood?

  • Thousands of Thalassemia and Leukemia patients need blood on weekly or monthly basis. They are the most important patients as they need blood every week/month and they can’t survive without blood.
  • Accident Victims: Locally there are dozens of road accidents are occurred and the victims may need blood.
  • Blood Cancer Patients: These patients also need blood on weekly or monthly basis.
  • Heart Surgery, Liver Transplants and other surgery patients.
  • C-Section Patients.

Who can Donate Blood?

Donating blood
Image credit: Flickr Newbirth35
Anyone above 18 years of age can donate blood but the donor must be fit and healthy to donate and an initial screening of blood is required to check the blood group and to make sure whether the blood is okay for donation or not.

How often can you donate Blood?

A healthy and fit male can donate blood after every 3 months while a female can donate after 4 months. Proper meals and fluids must be taken before and after donation to avoid any sort of weakness.

Types of Blood:

There are 8 blood types that are to be confirmed before performing blood transfusion because it can be harmful for a patient if incompatible blood type is given to him.
Following is the table to show the compatibility of blood types with each other. This table is authentic and taken by wikipedia.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8422/7542141694_ded24949ae.jpg
Image Credit: Wikipedia.com
It is always a best practice to donate blood on your birthdays, so it will be the greatest gift to mankind from you side.

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