Do you ever have those days where you feel as if you have too much blood in your body? Donating blood to Canadian Blood Services can help you with that. On Wednesday, Feb. 6, 109 students, staff, and community members had their blood syphoned out of them in Evered Hall, according to Marcelo Dominguez, strategic communications manager of Canadian Blood Services.
Giving blood is not as simple as you would believe: you can’t just walk in, reveal a beautiful vein in the crook of your arm, and pour your blood into a bag. You must first answer a seemingly endless stream of questions about your medical, travel, and personal history, to ensure Canadian Blood Services are not receiving blood that could be dangerous to recipients.
As part of the requirements, potential donors are required to wait a year to donate if they have travelled to certain parts of Mexico, or are a man who has had sex with other men within the last year. They also must not have had a tattoo or piercing done within the last three months, or dental work within the past two days. People are not permitted to donate if they have ever exchanged sex for money or have injected street drugs, for their blood is unfortunately at too high a risk of potential HIV contamination. The same goes for people who have ever handled monkeys or their bodily fluids. Out of the 133 potential donors who came out on Wednesday, 24 were turned away for various reasons.
Once you have passed the questionnaire, you enter a cubicle to get your hemoglobin, blood pressure, and temperature all tested, ensuring you are in top condition to donate nearly half a litre of blood. Finally, you are ushered to a reclining chair, your arm is sterilized, and with a pinch, a needle is injected into a blue vein and blood slowly drains into a bag beside you. For about 10 minutes you must distract yourself on your phone or with a friend until the bag is full.
Now that you’ve given blood you are free to eat all the snacks and drink all the juice your heart desires! One surefire way to get broke students to support any cause or come to any meeting is to provide free food. A little blood is a small price to pay for endless Oreos and mango juice.
“Since blood has a limited shelf life, demand is constant. Every minute of every day, a patient in Canada needs blood,” Dominguez said. “We need more donors to maintain a strong national inventory of blood and blood products to meet patients’ needs.”
Men are eligible to donate every 56 days and women every 84 days, so the donation of blood doesn’t have to be an annual activity. Find out where the closest clinic is near you at www.blood.ca, and help save a life.
Overall, an impressive amount of students sacrificed 45 minutes of their time to give 450 ml of blood. How much free food would it take for people to come out for a bone marrow drive?
Image: UFV Flickr
Andrea Sadowski is working towards her BA in Global Development Studies, with a minor in anthropology and Mennonite studies. When she's not sitting in front of her computer, Andrea enjoys climbing mountains, sleeping outside, cooking delicious plant-based food, talking to animals, and dismantling the patriarchy.
