Facts About Blood and Blood Donation

   * More than 4.5 million patients need blood transfusions each year in the U.S. and Canada.
    *43,000 pints: amount of donated blood used each day in the U.S. and Canada.
    *Someone needs blood every two seconds.
    *Only 37 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood – less than 10 percent do annually**.

    *About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood.
    *One pint of blood can save up to three lives.
    *Healthy adults who are at least 17 years old, and at least 110 pounds may donate about a pint of blood—the most common form of donation—every 56 days, or every two months, depending on iron levels. Females receive 53 percent of blood transfusions; males receive 47 percent.
    *94 percent of blood donors are registered voters.
    *Four main red blood cell types: A, B, AB and O. Each can be positive or negative for the Rh factor. AB is the universal recipient; O negative is the universal donor of red blood cells.
    *Dr. Karl Landsteiner first identified the major human blood groups – A, B, AB and O – in 1901.
    *One unit of blood can be separated into several components: red blood cells, plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate.
    *Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body’s organs and tissues.
    *Red blood cells live about 120 days in the circulatory system.
    *Platelets promote blood clotting and give those with leukemia and other cancers a chance to live.
    *Plasma is a pale yellow mixture of water, proteins and salts.
    *Plasma, which is 90 percent water, makes up 55 percent of blood volume.
    *Healthy bone marrow makes a constant supply of red cells, plasma and platelets.
    *Blood or plasma that comes from people who have been paid for it cannot be used to human transfusion.

    *Granulocytes, a type of white blood cell, roll along blood vessel walls in search of bacteria to engulf and destroy.
    *White cells are the body’s primary defense against infection.
    *Apheresis is a special kind of blood donation that allows a donor to give specific blood components, such as platelets.
    *42 days: how long most donated red blood cells can be stored.
    *Five days: how long most donated platelets can be stored.
    *One year: how long frozen plasma can be stored.
    *Much of today’s medical care depends on a steady supply of blood from healthy donors.
    *2.7 pints: the average whole blood and red blood cell transfusion.*
    *Children being treated for cancer, premature infants and children having heart surgery need blood and platelets from donors of all types, especially type O.

    *Anemic patients need blood transfusions to increase their red blood cell levels.
    *Cancer, transplant and trauma patients, and patients undergoing open-heart surgery may require platelet tra*nsfusions to survive.
    *Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease that affects between 90,000 to 100,000 people in the United States, 98 percent of whom are of African descent.
    *Many patients with severe sickle cell disease receive blood transfusions every month.
    *A patient could be forced to pass up a lifesaving organ, if compatible blood is not available to support the transplant.
    *Thirteen tests (11 for infectious diseases) are performed on each unit of donated blood.
    *17 percent of non-donors cite “never thought about it” as the main reason for not giving, while 15 percent say they’re too busy.
    *The #1 reason blood donors say they give is because they “want to help others.”
    *Shortages of all blood types happen during the summer and winter holidays.
    *Blood centers often run short of types O and B red blood cells.
    *The rarest blood type is the one not on the shelf when it’s needed by a patient.
    *There is no substitute for human blood.
    *If all blood donors gave three times a year, blood shortages would be a rare event (The current average is about two.).
    *If only one more percent of all Americans would give blood, blood shortages would disappear for the foreseeable future.
    *46.5 gallons: amount of blood you could donate if you begin at age 17 and donate every 56 days (depending on iron levels) until you reach 79 years old.
    *Four easy steps to donate blood: medical history, quick physical, donation and snacks.
    *The actual blood donation usually takes about 10 minutes. The entire process – from the time you sign in to the time you leave – takes about an hour.
    *After donating blood, you replace the fluid in hours and the red blood cells within four weeks. It takes eight weeks to restore the iron lost after donating.
    *You cannot get AIDS or any other infectious disease by donating blood.
    *10 pints: amount of blood in the body of an average adult.
    *One unit of whole blood is roughly the equivalent of one pint.
    *Blood makes up about 7 percent of your body’s weight.
    *A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in his body.
    *Giving blood will not decrease your strength.
    *Any company, community organization, place of worship or individual may contact their local community blood center to host a blood drive.
    *Blood drives hosted by companies, schools, places of worship and civic organizations supply roughly half of all blood donations across the United States.
    *People who donate blood are volunteers and are not paid for their donation.
    *500,000: the number of Americans who donated blood in the days following the September 11 attacks.
    *Blood donation. It’s about an hour of your time. It’s About Life.