By: South Bend Medical Foundation
Blood keeps us moving every day, but most of us don’t think about it during our daily lives.
The need for blood is constant, and when you donate your blood you can help another person at a critical time in their life. Whether you’ve donated blood in the past, or you’re thinking about it for the first time, here are five reasons you shouldn’t wait and should sign up to donate blood today.
It’s an act of kindness
When you donate blood your efforts truly are saving local lives through the South Bend Medical Foundation. Each unit of blood helps up to three people right here in Michiana. People need blood for a variety of reasons: cancer treatments, traumas, surgeries, and other various illnesses. Your donation helps ensure your friends and neighbors can get the crucial care they need when they need it most.
Blood can’t be manufactured
We all need blood to survive, and it’s not something that can be artificially manufactured in a lab. Statistics show that about 38 percent of the population in the United States can give blood at any given time but only about 5 percent actually donate. Moreover, about 1 in 4 Americans will need a blood product (blood, platelets or plasma) in their lifetime.
Your donation can help save another mom
The need for a blood transfusion during childbirth is a real possibility due to hemorrhaging and other complications. At the South Bend Medical Foundation, we recently learned about a woman who was giving birth to her second child and, due to complications, required 50 units of blood. The average adult has about 10 to 12 units of blood inside of them, according to the South Bend Medical Foundation. She needed about five adults’ worth of blood to save her!
It’s a healthy habit
Donating blood allows your body the opportunity to replenish itself. After donating, your body works to replace the lost blood, which stimulates the production of new blood cells in your body.
It’s a mini health exam
The screening process for donation acts as a mini-physical exam for you. The exam can help to catch conditions such as high blood pressure and abnormally high or low iron levels. Knowing iron levels is especially important for women, as women are at higher risk of iron deficiency anemia, which leaves you tired and short of breath.
Motivated to donate? Join the B100 Mom Squad for its blood drive this March! Visit the B100 Studios at 237 Edison Road in Mishawaka from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, March 23. All donors will receive a reusable hand warmer and a Starbucks gift card. Sign up online at GiveBloodNow.com with sponsor code B100.
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