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| - I am the type of person that likes to contribute to the world - even if it is kind of passively on such issues such as donating blood. I have a literal bucket list item where I want to donate blood on a regular basis for at least 5 years. So here I am in year 1, four regular donations in (donated previously, but not regularly).
Physically, I've been all lover the board with donating blood - I've done everything from walk out the door feeling like nothing happened to passing out in the chair. To say that I've had time to figure out what my body likes and does not like is an understatement. So what does my body like? It wants a nice meal 2 hours before donating and plenty of water leading up to that donation time. During the donation it likes one bottle of water, and maybe a snack (which, BTW, is free).
The staff is always nice and courteous with me. When I passed out, they helped me and helped me figure out what went wrong (I hadn't eaten in 8+ hours prior to donating). When I donate without issue, still super nice. I took my girlfriend last time and she had complications (didn't pass out, but very, very close) and they were super nice to her as well.
If the free water, soda, popcorn, and snacks aren't enough for you... then you can also earn points to purchase things (Hero Reward Program) - free ice-cream, free movie tickets, free clothing, etc. And on top of that they regularly have by-the-day freebies. Last time it was a free pint of ice-cream. Prior to that it was a special entry to win a car being given away to people who donate blood (closed to everyone else).
There is a slew of different options of donation too. I do the whole blood which is the traditional method where they just take a pint and use it as a whole or separate it out into certain parts that they need. I've considered also going back and donating to one of the more specialized donations too (i.e. plasma, platelet, etc) since those have different time requirements than whole.
Blood (whole blood):Every 56 days
Platelets: Every 7 days, up to 24 times / year
Plasma: Every 28 days, up to 13 times / year
Double Red Cells: Every 112 days, up to 3 times / year
The whole process takes about an hour. Donation, the actual needle in your arm, takes about 15 minutes. The rest is answering questions, checking your iron levels, and recovery time where you get to eat snacks in the waiting room (making sure you don't have a negative response to the donation before driving away). So seriously, go donate! You never know who it will help - it could even help you!!!!
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