GIVE BLOOD!!!

I am a universal donor (O+). I am going to give blood today. Please, please, please, if you can, give blood! It is so desperately needed right now with all of the attacks on the United States!

We had a blood drive at work yesterday and I donated blood. I wish I could go again today and donate, but I am afraid that I can not.
Andrew is going though.

The hospitals and the Red Cross in my area, Boston, Massachusetts, is overwhelmed. Please do call before you go donate, I will probably go tomorrow. Souraya, the blood you gave yesterday will save lives today, rest assured. You cannot donate again today, you need to give your body time to recoup the blood you already gave away!

Good advice Karen. In my small town the local Red Cross center is overwhelmed! There is at least a two hour wait. I called and made an appointment for Friday.

In the streets of NY, doctors and nursing are holding up signs requesting people to PLEASE give blood. Lines are forming outside of the donation areas according to blood type. I am so proud of my fellow New Yorkers. During crisis and tragedy, the best in them comes out. The firefighters, police officers, drs., nurses, citizens all, are truly heroes.

I wish I could give blood, but am not healthy enough :( :( There is a 4 hour wait here in Austin to give blood though so they are asking us to hold off a couple days.

I know, I have type O+ which is the universal donor, and I get so frustrated at times like this because I can't give.

4 feline I know how you feel I have a rare type that is probley needed badly (O Neg.) But due to diabetes and the liver problems with it they won't take it. The bright side my almost 18 year old who is terrified of needles wants me to take him and sign permission to donate. He makes me proud!
Corinna

Corinna, bless your son. How brave and wonderful of him. The tears are coming all over again. Give him a hug from all of us here for his courage.

I can't donate because of diabetes and I'm anemic. I am so upset that I can't donate blood. I feel awful. I wish there was something I could do besides sit here watching the disaster on tv. I would do anything to help those poor people.

[ September 11, 2001: Message edited by: aly ]

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CANNOT GIVE BLOOD!!!!

There are other ways to help! You can give money to the Red Cross. Or volunteer. Or even take cookies and sandwiches to the donor centers!

The wonderful and caring people of this country allways come through in a crisis.
Thanks to everybody.

MAO! thankyou sooooo much for the ideas!!! i am one of those people who can not donate. (i weigh 95lbs.) the cookie one souds great! even spare change could be spared. it's odd how something so simple can be overlooked.

I tried to give blood yesterday, but I was turned away because there were too many people there. I have O- blood, so I'd really like to donate. Guess I'll have to wait a couple of days. :(

Yes, give blood in a day or so if you can!

When a disaster happens, blood products are moved to the needy area. This leaves a hole in the supply in other places. Then a person in the non-disaster area has a terrible need, and there just isn't blood for them.

Most parts of blood do not last over a certain time (shelf life just like food). We need to keep giving blood, not just this week, but as a regular gift to our world.
Thank you to all that have given!

Blood CAN be frozen - what may be happening is that they are running out of freezer space. What a wonderful testament to the generosity of the American public ...

I may be wrong, but I believe whole blood cannot be frozen. Platelets, as I understand, are destroyed upon freezing, so only components of blood can be frozen. But I could be wrong.