Summer is a time when most people travel, have fun and relax. That presents a challenge to blood centers, where summer means a significant drop-off in platelet donations. Platelets are tiny pieces of cells that circulate in the blood and are part of the body's clotting mechanism.
Platelets are often given to bone marrow and organ transplant patients. In order to treat these patients, the DeGowin Blood Center at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics must maintain a steady supply of platelets because they can only be stored for five days. Platelet donations tend to drop in the summer, so the need for new donors is greater.
"We try and find a little extra help from those first-time donors especially people who may not be in the regular habit of coming in," said Mitch Overton, donor recruitment coordinator for the DeGowin Blood Center. "We try and recruit new people into the system," he said. "They typically get just as much satisfaction as those long-time, loyal donors do."
UI Hospitals and Clinics uses up to 90 separate blood products every day. That translates into 25 donors a day just to meet the needs of the region's most critically ill patients.
"It's something that every community that has a hospital or health care center has to have," Overton said. "Without committed donors like these people, it really compromises the hospital's ability to treat some of these patients."
You must be at least 16 years old (16 year-olds must have parental permission), weigh at least 110 pounds and be cold and flu symptom free for five days to donate blood or platelets. All donors will also receive a free "I Bleed Black and Gold" t-shirt.
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