What's Involved In Donating Blood?

Donors must be healthy. A questionaire will be presented to would-be donors at every session to make sure of this.

After checking their questionaire answers, would-be donors have their fingers pricked for a drop of blood. This must sink to the bottom of a gelly-like liquid or you don't have enough iron in your blood (donating blood when anameic would make you feel really rotten).

When donors are called to donate, they lie down and are made comfortable. The nurse will find a good vein to withdraw from. The prick of the needle isn't too bad. Donors will usually be asked to squeeze a small pump which helps to get the blood to flow out. They give typically 10-12% of their blood (470 ml, almost 1 pint). This takes between 5 and 45 minutes.

After a short rest, donors are invited to sit and eat biscuits, drinking tea or squash (this replaces the lost fluids within minutes)., It takes 3-7 days for the body to make blood levels up to where they were before.

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