On a recent episode of Peer POV: The Pulse on Medicine, Amanda Hess, an Advisory Board Member of the Association for Blood Donor Professionals, discussed barriers to blood donation and the importance of blood donations by family members.
Fear of needles and the time commitment are consistently two of biggest barriers people cite when asked to give blood. We explain that blood donation is a quicker, simpler procedure than you might think. A donor is with us for about an hour, but only about 15 minutes or less is spent on the actual donation process. The rest is answering questions, getting your blood pressure taken, and time to recover afterwards. We often hear from people who try it for the first time that it was far easier than they ever imagined and far quicker and the feeling they get that they directly helped save someone’s life far outweighs the time they spent or that fear of that needle that they had.
A lot of donors also think that they are not eligible when, in fact, they are. A lot of people who have certain medical conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and are on medicine think they can’t donate blood. But most folks who have controlled diabetes or are on blood pressure medications are eligible to give. This is something clinicians, including those caring for patients with blood cancer, can help with by answering eligibility questions.
Donating to Loved Ones
The other reason clinicians are so important is because oftentimes, family members of patients who have needed blood during their care want to help. They want to do something to support either their loved one or other families that going through it. Being a volunteer blood donor is a way that they can do something, to feel like they’re making a difference.
A clinician can tell family members that there is something they can do, to choose to be a volunteer blood donor. This cannot be underestimated, but it is. We have so many longstanding relationships with families in our communities who have been impacted by the need for blood donations. They know how critical blood donation is. There is no substitute for blood. It has to come from people. It has to come from volunteer blood donors. Life-saving treatments would not be possible without it.
