May 3, 2021

Donating Blood: Your New Family Tradition
Your Family Doctors Encourage Regular Blood Donation

Your family doctors want everyone to lead lives of strength and vitality, and superb overall health. A great family medical clinic will always be on the lookout for treatments and practices which lead to the best health outcomes for every member of your family.

There are daily health habits you and your family can adopt which help the cause, of course. Eating healthy foods, getting plenty of exercise, drinking enough water, sleeping well, and taking appropriate supplements are practices you can help promote for everyone in the house.

Beyond the daily health habits you encourage at home, there are other beneficial health-supporting practices you can undertake on a periodic basis.

Of course, your family doctors would like to see you and every other member of your family for regular check-ups at the clinic. Scheduling regular check-ups – generally, twice a year – is one of the best things you can do to stay ahead of things that might affect your family’s health.

And here’s a practice with which some families have found good success: regular blood donations.

Kids can’t donate blood, of course. But your teenagers might: Anyone over the age of 17 can donate to the general blood supply, and 16-year-olds can donate with their parents’ consent.

There’s no upper age limit on blood donation, though. Mom, Dad, and any elderly family members at home can donate blood, assuming they’re healthy and have no restrictions against the practice.

Consider scheduling regular blood donations, and if they’re old enough, take the kids along (when it’s allowed by the donation center). Even if you can’t bring the children with you, explain the blood donation process (and need) to them, and make sure they’re aware of your dedication to donation.

They might well grow up to be regular blood donors, too!

Blood Donation Is Safe – And Needed

The past year has made most of us hyper-aware of undertaking any activity which might put us at risk of disease infection. As a result, some would-be blood donors have shown reluctance to donate, fearing the donation process might increase their risks.

It’s true that folks with pronounced risk factors for disease infection would be well-advised to stay home and avoid contact with significant numbers of people. But for healthy people with no underlying conditions or extra risk factors, blood donation is one of the safest ways you can help out.

Trained medical professionals will collect your donation in a controlled environment. Everyone at the donation center is masked-up, and everything is thoroughly sterilized. If you think about it, you almost couldn’t choose a more medically-safe place to be than on the blood-donation table!

And the community needs your blood donation. The American Red Cross reports that, every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. More than 36,000 units of blood are needed each day… the average need is about three units of red blood cells.

A victim of a catastrophe, such as an automobile accident, could require as many as 100 units of blood.

In fact, the organization reports that a single blood donation can potentially save as many as three lives!

Ask your family medical practitioners for tips on blood donation. They can help you find blood donation centers, and in some cases, can help you schedule your donation. They’ll also have helpful ideas for protecting your own health and vitality before and after donating. Let’s keep a healthy blood supply, and know that blood will be there if we ever need it ourselves!