EDITORIAL: Support the Red Cross and donate blood

It’s easy, it costs no money, it takes less than an hour, it’s relatively painless and you even get a snack and drink afterward. Most importantly, the small sacrifice of giving blood just once can help save as many as three lives.
The American Red Cross South Carolina Blood Services Region once again is asking people to donate blood to help replenish a critically low blood supply.
It’s not a new appeal. It seems the Red Cross has to beg for blood donations every summer and winter.
Local American Red Cross officials said the summer shortages are, in part, a result of high schools being out of session, as 20 percent of blood collections come from high schools. But just about any healthy person who’s at least 17 years old may be eligible to donate blood.
The blood supply often can’t meet the demand. According to the American Red Cross, one of every 10 people admitted in a hospital needs a blood transfusion. Many of those admitted to emergency rooms have been involved in an accident involving significant blood loss, and it appears people are more prone to being in a traffic accident during the summer and around the holidays when travel increases. A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 units of blood.
The need, however, is constant. There is no substitute for blood, which has a limited shelf life; most donated red blood cells must be used within 42 days of collection. It’s not just used to treat those undergoing surgery or injured in an accident, either. Cancer patients, patients with blood disorders, burn victims and others need blood donations to survive.
Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood and more than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day, the American Red Cross says.
The American Red Cross supplies blood to 54 hospitals in South Carolina. To ensure all hospitals have an adequate supply of blood, it must collect 500 units of blood per day.
The two most common reasons cited by people who don’t give blood are that they “never thought about it” and they “don’t like needles.” By the same token, the people who must receive blood transfusions never expected to need them and, by and large, don’t enjoy being stuck with needles, either.
Those with safety concerns should know that the process of collecting blood is treated as carefully as any other medical procedure. A sterile needle is used only once for each donor then discarded. The Red Cross requires that every blood donor be given a mini-physical, checking the donor’s temperature, blood pressure, pulse and hematocrit level (red blood cells count) to ensure it is safe for him or her to give blood.
The average adult has about 10 to 12 pints of blood in his body, and about a pint is given during a donation. All donated blood is tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, syphilis and other infectious diseases before it’s released to hospitals. In addition, information donors give to the Red Cross during the donation process is kept confidential and cannot be released without permission except as directed by law.
If you are eligible to give blood, we urge you to consider making a donation as soon as possible. A great opportunity to do so will be at Darlington Raceway on Thursday. The event, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., will take place inside the track’s infield media center.
Donors at the Darlington Raceway Blood Drive will each receive a NASCAR goody bag as well as a pace car ride around the egg-shaped track. Register at www.redcrossblood.org by entering the sponsor code “DarlingtonRaceway” or by calling (800) RED CROSS.
You don’t have to wait for a special blood drive, though. The Florence Donor Center is located at 1555-B W. Palmetto St. and appointments can be scheduled almost any time by calling (843) 673-1900.
The No. 1 reason donors give the American Red Cross for giving blood is because they “want to help others.”
It really is that simple.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper: Editorial Board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Lisa Chalian-Rock, (The Messenger editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (content manager), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Naeem McFadden (Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise editor), John Sweeney (The Weekly Observer editor), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor).