Donate Blood To Save A Life

January is a month where there is a critical shortage of blood. There are many reasons for this

including the holidays, more people getting sick, and weather conditions limiting blood

donations. Because of this, over 50 years ago the president declared January as National Blood

Donor Month. An article over National Blood Donor Month states, “The new monthly

observance was meant to honor voluntary blood donors and to encourage more people to give

blood at a time when more blood is needed.” Blood donations are such a crucial part of our

healthcare system.

As future health professionals, donating blood is a great way to help better

our health care system. Of course the more donors there are, the better. You might be wondering

why you should donate blood. A simple answer is to save lives. An article over blood donations states, “Just 1 donation of blood saves up to 3 lives.” So many people are in need of blood donations right now. Blood donations help transplant patients, surgery patients, and burn victims.

There are so many other things one blood donation can do. Sadly, more than 38,000 people are in

need of blood donations every day. That is a huge number of donations, but your one donation

can help many. According to the same article over blood donations, “While 38% of Americans

are eligible to donate blood, only 2% of Americans actually donate.” This is a really sad fact to

read. While so many people are able to donate and help save lives, not many do.

There are many reasons Americans choose not to donate blood, but the main reason is “I’m scared.” Of course, donating blood and having a needle in your arm can be scary. Having a personal experience of

being scared to donate blood, I completely understand the fear of needles. I was petrified my first

time giving blood, but the whole process was much easier than I expected. The best way I found

to get over my fear of donating blood was to just do it. I also looked away when they placed the

needle in my arm and that helped me get over my fear as well.

Although donating blood is scary, it is so crucial. If you are scared to donate blood, have a friend or family member go with you and donate blood as well. By doing this you have a supportive person to help get you through it and another person to donate blood. If you are unsure of where to go to donate blood, a great

place to start is your school. Most schools in America typically have blood drives once or twice a

year. This is a great place for students to donate blood because you don’t have to go anywhere

specific and you can have a friend go with you. If your school doesn’t have a blood drive, the

best place to find out where and how to donate blood is by going to the Red Blood Cross

Donation website. There you will find out all the information on how to donate blood and places

near you where you can go to donate blood. I strongly urge you to figure out if you are eligible to

donate blood and take action to help save lives.