Blood Donation Center 15 March 2022
What Happens to the Blood?
Before you can be eligible to donate blood, you must first fill out a survey of close to 45 questions. After you have filled out your form, they will take you back into a room to be screened. In the screening room, they will measure your blood pressure, your weight, and find your blood type. Then, they sit you in a chair and take your blood. To prevent clotting, you are required to occasionally squeeze a stress ball. After they have gotten your blood and labeled it, they take it into the back.
They put the blood into a container, where it is spun around and separated. Then, they filter the blood to get out any irregularities. After it is filtered, they are finally labeled and stored in a freezer.
Finally, the blood is ready to be packaged and delivered. They have different size boxes for the different amounts of blood being delivered. The smaller boxes can hold up to three pints of blood. The larger ones can hold from seven to twenty. Each box is packed with ice and labeled appropriately. You can pack different types of blood together, but not blood and platelets.
Platelets
When people donate platelets, the platelets can last for up to seven days. Once platelets go through the system in the back, they are stored in either a freezer or a machine that shakes the platelets to keep them from clotting together.
Donation Times
Blood: every 16 weeks
Platelets: every 2 weeks
Double Blood: every 24 weeks
Plasma: every 2 days
Comments