If you want to do something to help others that doesn’t require massive amounts of effort from you and which can actually save the lives of others, then becoming a blood donor is the perfect way to do it.

Blood donors save on average 18 lives per year and the who have rare blood types save lives where there is very often little alternative for the patient in need.

After registering during your first trip to a blood donor center, subsequent visits will be shorter. You’ll breeze through a few questions and a quick check of your temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and blood count. Then, after a brief needle prick, it’s just a matter of sitting quietly for about 10 minutes while your blood donation is collected. You can use that time to imagine the 3 people your blood donation will save: perhaps a mother suffering complications during childbirth, a child struck by a car, and a grandfather undergoing heart surgery.

Easy

The human body has between 8 and 10 pints of blood in it and when you give blood they will take just under a pint from you. This is an effortless procedure and the pint less which you are left with will have absolutely no effect on you in most cases. Occasionally you may feel slightly weaker or more tired, but this will pass very quickly afterwards. In no time at all you will be feeling good, and safe in the knowledge that what you have done is changing lives for the better.

Bringing Others

One of the most amazing things about those who give blood is that they often help to inspire those around them to do the same. If you are able to bring one person with you, who in turn will bring someone with them, we can really give the blood bank the boost that it needs.

Amount

Something which so many people underestimate is the sheer volume of blood which hospitals require every day. Very often blood is lost as quickly as it is transfused in patients with serious injuries or who are going for an operation, which means that those with rare blood types in particular are very much in need of donors with that blood type donating so that they can get a transfusion as and when required.

Annual

This is not just something which you will be looking to do every once in a while, you can donate blood up to 6 times per year. Your blood will be broken down into components such as red blood cells or platelets, because people’s need is often different. This means that you can donate up to 6 pints every single year, ensuring that those 18 people can get the help that they need, when they need it.

Volunteering is not the only thing which we love here, donating time, money and blood is also something which you can do in order to make this world a better place, so what are you waiting for?