In 1985, Pete Townshend sang “Give Blood” with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame on lead guitar. Without searching for his deeper meaning in the lyrics, let’s take the words at face value. Why give blood, you ask? Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood for surgeries, cancer treatments, accidents, and chronic illnesses. About 38% of Americans are eligible to donate blood, but only 3% of those do. Blood supply shortages occur during holidays, inclement weather, and winter when our community has seasonal illnesses.
When I graduated from nursing school around the same time Pete released his White City album, I witnessed firsthand how blood and blood products were greatly needed and used to save and improve the lives of many of my patients. So, I donated blood. Unfortunately, my red blood cells remained too low for subsequent donations. I didn’t donate again until my best friend and coworker Katie Exner, RN BSN, invited me to go with her to the Vitalant center to donate whole blood. This time, my hemoglobin was good, and I have been able to donate a pint of whole blood about every 8 weeks since that day back in 2022.
According to the American Red Cross, about 16 million units of blood and blood products are transfused annually in the United States. That translates to about 29,000 red blood cells, nearly 5,000 units of platelets, and 6,500 units of plasma needed daily in the U.S. alone. Sometimes blood products are given under a massive transfusion protocol (MTP). This involves giving multiple units of blood and complementary blood products to a patient who is bleeding to death. Many Colorado counties now have blood medics available with their EMS services to quickly supply whole blood to accident victims, thus improving their survival rates and decreasing hospital length of stay.
The average human holds about 10 pints of blood. One pint is removed during a whole blood donation or about one-tenth of your total blood volume. Our bodies replenish this volume within a day. Whole blood is separated into red cells, platelets, and plasma (the liquid part containing protein and clotting factors). The white blood cells are generally removed. Donated red blood cells have a shelf life of up to 42 days and can be donated every eight weeks. Platelets have only a five-day shelf life but can be donated every seven days up to 24 times per year. The plasma part is frozen and has a shelf life of one year. Vitalant and the American Red Cross both collect blood in Colorado.
I asked my BFF Katie why she gives blood every eight weeks. She said, “My motivation is to help others. It’s something easy and relatively painless that I can do, but it can be life-altering for someone else”. Medicine has come a long way since the days of transfusing lambs’ blood into humans or using cows’ milk as a blood substitute. Perhaps 2025 is the year you donate this precious and renewable resource to help another. You may get the gift of helping your fellow human beings like Katie, and I do.
Jane M. Newman, RN, BSN
