The American Red Cross has declared an emergency blood shortage, saying patients are at risk of not getting lifesaving transfusions.
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Donors are needed now more than ever as the Red Cross faces a national emergency shortage, with the number of donors at a 20-year low. Medical director Dr. Eric Gehrie says the Red Cross has experienced a loss of 300,000 donors since the COVID-19 pandemic alone.
“It means that hospitals will order a certain number of units of blood, and those orders are not being filled fully,” he said. “So hospital blood banks are low on blood.”
They should start paying for it, like with plasma.
Or at least give a discount to those that donate who may need blood themself one day.
They’ve tried that. You end up with lower quality blood. You have to throw more out. I have no idea on the overall effect on total kept blood volume though.
Really they should just ask people during doctor’s appointments and send them over to the blood pens.
At least $30/pint, but I suppose it should depend on blood type. And it should come with a voucher so if you ever need it you can buy it back for $50/pint instead of the insane amount they try to charge.
I get frequent offers for gift cards and coupons and stuff for donating. You don’t want to create a cash incentive because then people will lie to donate more often.
Every time I donate blood, it’s frustrating because there are so many questions.
“Who’s blood is it?” and, “Why is it in a bucket?” Sheesh, how am I supposed to know?
They’re less picky when it’s in tuperware or a ziplock bag.
It’s because open containers allow for more contaminants.
I have O+ blood,
might donate.
It’s also a great way to reduce microplastics in your blood stream.
Wow, you would think there would be more clinical trials and media on this.
Right? Though I think the issue is that there’s no measured benefit. It reduces PFAS in your system. I think we all assume this is a good thing. But we don’t know for sure, so we can’t really recommend this for any medical benefits.
But it seems like a good thing to me, so I keep sharing it :-)
Bring back the leeching!
…huh.
I may start donating from this alone tbh.
I try to donate all the time there are never appointments
