Donating Blood

Project Live It aspires to encourage people to try new and interesting things and to help others to do the same. I'll be posting what I've been inspired to try/learn/see/do each Friday.

Given that I pass Canadian Blood Services twice a day on my walks to and from the hospital, I should really try to make appointments more often to donate blood. Especially given this:

the Canadian Blood Services inventory is often sub-optimal (source)

Fortunately my blood type, B+, is apparently above optimal inventory right now.

(source)

Nonetheless, I made an appointment this week to donate whole blood. It only took an hour (the actual phlebotomy taking only 5-10 minutes) and is really something I should do more than twice a year. You can actually donate every 56 days -- the guy beside me was on his 25th donation!

I'm thankful for that piece of gauze covering the needle -- despite being a resident seeing needles tends to make me lightheaded :S

The staff at Canadian Blood Services are all very friendly and it's overall a pleasant experience. Plus you get juice and cookies afterwards (it's worth donating just to get the cranberry flax seed ones).

and you get soup at the Edmonton 114 St centre

So if you've never donated before, it's not as terrible as you might think. Basically you'll have your hemoglobin checked with a finger prick (it has to be at least 125), fill out a yes/no questionnaire, have your blood pressure and temperature taken, lay on a chair for 10 minutes, and eat cookies. Easy, right? Find out for yourself :)

For those who are interested, here's a little run-down on blood type... In Canada, the most common blood types are O+ and A+. The most needed blood type donations are O- and A-. That's not to say that donations of other blood types aren't useful -- there are always people of all blood types in need of blood.

blood type breakdown in the Canadian population (source)

As you may recall from a biology class at some point, there are four blood groups. Group O is considered the "universal donor" because it lacks antigens. Group AB is considered the "universal recipient" because it lacks antibodies.

Look familiar? I always have to think this through. (source)

Blood type is inherited from one's parents, with A and B genetic alleles being codominant.

This diagram explains it better than I can. (source)

This means that various blood types are possible in a child, depending on the combination of his or her parents' genetic alleles:

Don't think about this too hard...my intention is not to bring anyone's paternity into question. (source)

Interestingly, the frequency of specific blood-type alleles varies by population, meaning that different groups have different proportions of individuals with each blood type:

I didn't know this! (source)

Anyhow, as you can see below, for any donor blood type there is one or more compatible recipient, so regardless of your blood type it's worthwhile to step up and make a donation!

(source)