What Happens When You Donate Blood

Depending on the hospital at which you work, or the country where you live, there is a code for emergency cases where patients are losing blood and require blood immediately. In some countries it is regarded as Code Omega, while some call it code orange. Depending on the country and the codes used, there are cases where patients are rushed into the hospital and will require blood transfusion as soon as possible as the patients survival depends on giving them blood as soon as possible.

When this code is given in a hospital, the blood lab will immediately begin work, sending one package/pint of blood after another depending on the amount needed. At this point, every seconds count when talking about delivering the blood to the patient, also, giving the patient the right type of blood matters a lot, and that depends on the blood type available. Any mistake with this blood is a factor between life and death.

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Since people need blood regularly, then there are people who would be readily willing to donate, so how does this process work? First when blood is to be a donated, a questionnaire is given, and the donor is required to fill it to ascertain the eligibility of the donor. This questionnaire will encompass, travel history, health question, and medication being used. After this, the hemoglobin level of the donor would be checked. You are not just donating blood, you need to have enough red blood cell to donate, as hemoglobin is the protein in the red blood cell that helps in transporting oxygen to the different part of the body. Blood samples are also going to be taken to ensure that there are no infections in the blood of the donor and to be sure that the donor is safe to donate.

When you donate blood, you are donating whole blood because it is a combination of Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells, Platelets, and Plasma but then, it will be sent to the processing lab where it is separated into different parts so that the one needed by a patient can be given to them instead of given the entire blood. Each of the blood is centrifuged and this causes the blood to separate into three levels depending on the density with the plasma being at the top, followed by a buffy coat which is made up of white blood cells, after which the red blood cell is at the bottom. With this, One blood donation can save three lives depending on their needs.

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The blood cells are then separated into different bags with the Red Blood cells separated into another bag. When separating the Red Blood Cells, it is important to remove any white blood cells in it, in a process known as Leukoreduction which reduces the risk of reaction by the patient during transfusion.

Platelets are the buffy liquid when separation is done. Platelets are cells that help to stop blood clot and bleeding in people. Plasma is found above and it is the liquid protein in the blood composed of immunoglubulins which are the antibodies that fight viruses and bacteria. It can be used to treat patients with autoimmune diseases.

It is important to know that at every minute, there is someone in need of blood, either as RBC, Platelets, or Plasma for cases of accidents, cancer operations, auto immune disease, childbirth and so on. Each donation is required to save those patients live, sine science has not been able to work on synthesized blood in large scale, we still need to help save lives and donating blood can do more than you think. You should contact your nearest health commission or hospital to learn about how you can donate blood to help someone who might be in need of it. I just donated, and it meant a lot to see that my blood can save a lot of people who need it.

^Reference

^{https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/circulatory-pulmonary/a/components-of-the-blood
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/types-of-blood-donations/blood-components.html
https://www.hematology.org/education/patients/blood-basics
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/types-of-blood-donations.html
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009745.pub2/full}