"Be Nice to Me, I Gave Blood Today!"

You should be nice to me everyday, however the YMCA sponsored a blood drive today, so off I went.

A few facts about blood donation:

• 60% of the population is eligible to donate blood. Only 5% of people donate.

• Every 2 seconds, someone in the US needs a blood transfusion

• While there is a pretty constant shortage, summer is the hardest time to find blood donors. Summer is when demand for blood is the highest.

• Last summer elective surgeries in Arizona were cancelled because of a blood shortage. I'm sure they were cancelled in other states too.

• If everyone who is eligible to donate did so just once a year, there would never be a blood shortage.

To find a blood drive or donation site near you, click here . After you give, you get cookies and juice. I believe that's what's called a 'win-win'. Or possibly a 'win-win-win'.


If you're really feeling generous, consider Apheresis donation. It takes about 2 hours, but up to 5 recipients benefit from a single donation. The platelets immediately go to cancer patients and bone marrow donation recipients to boost their immune systems. After I did apheresis donation, I received a letter from one of the recipients telling me that my platelets allowed her to spend Thanksgiving out of the hospital with her family. *sniff*

"Be a hero - give blood."