Donating Blood and Platelets

We encourage people to donate to their local hospitals since there are continually shortages.

To donate to UCLA: http://gotblood.ucla.edu/

To donate to Cedars Sinai: http://www.csmc.edu/1756.html

To donate to Children's Hospital, L.A.: http://www.childrenshospitalla.org/site/c.ipINKTOAJsG/b.3579263/k.951D/Donate_Blood.htm

Live elsewhere? Give blood locally for people in your area that need it: www.givelife.org

Donor Qualifications

• Donor must be 17 years old.
• Donor must weigh at least 110 pounds.
• Donors are required to bring a picture ID and one of the following: a driver's license number, passport number or SS number.
• Donors are encouraged to have a healthy meal before donating and to drink plenty of fluids.

For Platelet-pheresis donors only: Do not take any ibuprofen, aspirin or non steroidal anti-inflammatory medication 36 hours before your donation.

Please call for an evaluation if you:

• Are sick or not feeling well
• Have donated blood in the past 8 weeks
• Are pregnant
• Have a bleeding disorder or blood disease.
• Have had hepatitis after the age of 11 years
• Have had Babesiosis or Chagas disease
• Have ever received growth hormone made from human pituitary glands
• Have ever received a brain covering graft
• Or any of your blood relatives have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Have taken Tegison for psoriasis
• Have been injected with bovine (beef) insulin since 1980
• Have ever used a needle to inject nonprescription drugs (including steroids)
• Have taken clotting factor concentrates for a bleeding problem
• Have AIDS or have had a positive test for the AIDS virus
• Have taken money or drugs for sex since 1977
• Are a man and have had sex with another man since 1977
• Have been treated for syphilis or gonorrhea in the past 12 months

Or if you have had any of the following:

• Cancer
• Chest pain, stroke, heart disease, or lung disease
• Malaria in the past 12 months
• Major illness, surgery, or are under a doctor's care for chronic illness
• Blood transfusions or tissue grafts/transplants in the past 12 months
• Tattoos, ear/skin piercing, or acupuncture in the past 12 months
• Accidental needlestick or come into contact with someone else's blood in the past 12 months
• Rabies shot or any other shots or vaccinations
• Been held in a prison/jail for more than 72 hours
• Take Avodart, Proscar, Propecia, Accutane, Soriatane, or any other medications in the last 4 weeks
• Traveled outside of the U.S. to malarial areas in the past 12 months

We still encourage blood and platelet donations in Los Angeles, even though Dylan does not need them.

There are huge shortages and you WILL save lives with your donation.

Some Quick Facts about donating blood

The children in the hospital require 2,000 units of blood and blood components each month for the various lifesaving treatments they undergo. This translates to 700 donors per month.

Nearly 90% of the blood transfused at comes from our donor center. Rarely is enough blood donated to cover patient use.

Anyone at least 17 years of age and weighing at least 110 pounds can donate blood.

Nearly 50% of the American population can donate blood, yet less than 5% choose to do so.

Type 0 Negative, the universal donor, is frequently transfused to infants. Only 7% of the population have 0 negative blood.

You can donate every 56 days or eight weeks.

Donating a unit of blood takes only 45 minutes; the actual blood collection takes 4 to 10 minutes.

Platelets, the blood component necessary for clotting, are the most used component by bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy patients.

The platelet apheresis process, in which platelets are removed and red cells are returned, takes about two hours, but it yields a larger volume of platelets than a single whole blood donation.