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according to the American Red Cross to the most common reason cited by people
who don't give blood
are never thought about it and I don't like needles
yet $1 donation can help save lives about three people
both Marshall Washington and I in Cairo's represent our local Red Cross
but each represents a different perspective
and that's why I'm having them on the show Marshall
arm his daughter has been the recipient applied
and has a very touching story to tell
Diane works with the recruitment effort and
understands why people sometimes feel hesitant to give so
are hopefully between the two of them we can now put together
something that will make you think twice about it before you say no
I don't like needles the Marshall you of course have a personal connection
to blood donation and this goes back a ways
about your daughter yes that's correct my daughter was born 28 years ago
on the island of Okinawa my wife and I were in the military
and our just before her second birthday
she had what appeared to be flu-like symptoms
and but with increasing pain and
appoints several visits to the emergency room the doctors determined that
she had sickle-cell disease and
she as I learned later was one of five children
born around that time with sickle cell disease
but was the only one to leave the island
alive if you do it and so
it was a very hi opening experience very rough
very difficult very challenging now
when somebody's diagnose for something like that blood transfusions
are part of what arm occurred throughout
the course of this in that that's correct blood transfusions always been a
part of her therapy
and blood transfusions to be honest as always made the difference
she was able to make a turn for the better after receiving
blood transfusions okay which religious leaders to the whole idea
okay the blood needs to come from somewhere and my blood is something that
we cannot manufacture
not outside at the human body correct
there are so many people who can donate blood
could donate blood and who don't donate blood so
on one of our primary objectors
is to spread the word about how relatively simple it is and how
incredibly powerful
it can be to donate like to give literally the gift of life
it's it's something that most of us can do and
most others unfortunately don't do on
and Marshall story is a prime example of how
incredibly important it is that the importance of that as I'm
you actually work with the the Red Cross as well so you've got
a double connection here and here being
I I would imagine that after years
love this that that the idea that
giving the gift of life is just really become very very central to
your world absolutely in diane is correct it is literally a gift of life
up without the blood and the donors giving up their time
our sponsors my daughter may not be here
and %uh part my responsibility American Red Cross
is to train people to go out to collect blood
in so I'm all always mindful up the recipient
the end product I'll with what we do for me it is personal
I have a personal story but I tried to
are interjected in in now my
training method into my instructors as well so I'm grateful
ever grateful for what the organization stands for all very very human aspect of
this but of course
it's very human to perhaps fear needles or feel a little funny about it
to so how does one really I don't know that everybody can
but how can one get beyond that resistance and and really consider this
because there are some
practical realistic things that people can take a look at and say okay
do this it's true on we talked to lots
group of people everywhere from high school
students who've never donated blood before you can donate blood when you're
as young as 16 with a
parental permission slip to we do collect a lot of blood at high schools
and
just as an aside that's one of the reasons why it makes it difficult for us
particularly in these upcoming summer months
a high schools are out of fashion and we do collect a lot but at high schools
but we talk to groups from high school students are two senior group in
retirement homes there is no upper age limit
on but as to how to get over the
concerns most of the time it is so much less
dramatic a a an experienced than people build up in their minds its
the actual blood donation process takes less than 10 minutes
feels kind of like a little maybe like a little bee sting at first when you were
first having the needle but altogether
on once that settles in
it's something that most people find to be that wasn't a big deal
and there are so many reasons that people feel that they
may not be able to donate blood there used to be restrictions against tattoos
and so on
I'm not any longer you can have a tattoo even the same day as long as it was done
in licensed facility in Virginia North Carolina and most states
and there is again no upper age limit
there are certain medications but mainly blood thinners an antibiotic that would
prevent somebody from donating blood on that particular day
okay so perhaps it may be at a certain
time of the year you may not be able to donate because you're on a medication
rat
and antibiotic-free what with a donor to be healthy I'm
and we want the blood supply to remain safe it
our mission is sort of do all and
making sure that we have a safe
and adequate blood supply is there a universal I mean there's got to be a
type a blood that
that is needed more than anything and there's a good reason for it
a typo that typo as the universal donor
mmm and they can give to moles donors
my my daughter is a type B is a matter of fact
she's received quite a bit of type O blood so
typos pulled her from crisis on a number of occasions
guess the need for it is greater because it is something that can be used by so
many people
that's correct so i'd how does one
actually go about getting involved in donating
they have to set aside a certain amount of time and
and what-have-you when they do this so what can they expect
we have blood drives throughout the community and also a donor centers but
throughout the community throughout tidewater our region goes all the way up
past williamsburg and down to
North Carolina but on
there are blood drives throughout the community oftentimes
churches our social groups
and as I say and educational institutions as well
on you can go to our website anytime its Red Cross Blood
.org and I
put in your zip code a or particular sponsor code if you're looking for a
particular blood drive
and that will on lead you to that blood drives its closest to you
the actual process takes 0 left in it our generally from start to finish
from the time you register you get a little not many physical
check your blood pressure your temperature et cetera
and your iron level and then you actually donate blood and then
the the big payoff is the cookies and juice that you get afterwards canteen
on its most people look forward to that
step and it's also an integral step in the blood donation process we want the
donor to walk away
feeling couldn't be reassured that everything is just fine
okay and one final question how many people come back and donate again
what's the percentage of people that actually donate repeatedly
irregular we have I i believe the statistics are
about fifty percent of our donors our regular donors but that doesn't mean
that we have the retention rate we would like to see a lot of people donate blood
for the first time or the second time and think of it as
an annual thing but now you can donate blood every 56 days
which is approximately every two months Rd if oliver donors came back a couple
of extra times
we would be in good shape I well that's a good
that's good information yeah to finish up with so
hopefully if you will consider it arm these are kind
people they really wanna do good thing and and the case at Marshall Washington
daughter you know it's it's changed his family's life
and it's helped his daughter in ways that nothing else could so
and it's all because I love the gift of
thank you for joining us thank you not next on a form
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