There are a number of reasons why blood donation will never go out of style – and always be in demand. For starters, unlike many medical necessities, blood can’t be made. It’s true! You can manufacture an artificial bone, but you can’t manufacture blood. About 36,000 units of red blood cells are needed on a daily basis in America, all of which come from a caring donor.
Blood donation is also needed to reap the life-saving benefits of plasma. According to Donating Plasma, plasma is what remains after other aspects of the blood have been removed. It’s a straw-colored liquid that is left after professionals strip the blood of red and white blood cells as well as platelets and other aspects of the blood. Your blood is more than half plasma, with blood consisting of 55 percent plasma. This can be used to create therapies for diseases like hemophilia and genetic lung disease. In addition, it can help trauma and burn victims.
Blood donation can also involve donating platelets. Platelets are an important part of the treatment of cancer. Further, platelets are used in those who have received organ transplants and in preventing too much blood loss in some surgeries.
That said, the American Red Cross says that all of these procedures take a different amount of time. The process by which various aspects of blood are harvested may also be different. For example, whole blood donation is what you think of in the way of a simple blood donation. The actual donation often takes less than ten minutes, with about an hour’s time needed to complete the entire process. You can do this every 56 days. But plasma donation, also called plasma apheresis, takes a little more time. This process, which uses a machine, takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. Volunteers may also partake in platelet donation, a process known as platelet apheresis. This takes between an hour and a half to two and a half hours. One can also participate in double red cell donation, which generally takes about a half an hour longer than whole blood donation. Each of these aspects of blood donation involve different amounts of time between donations, which means it’s essential to do your research before scheduling multiple appointments.