It's amazing to me that every day is a day to be taken note of... it's World Blood Donor Day today... go out and give some blood. This day, according to the WHO, "is celebrated each year to highlight the contribution voluntary unpaid blood donors make to public health." The WHO estimates that if at least 1% of a country's population donates blood this would be enough to satisfy the basic requirements for safe blood. For a country with more developed health systems, this percentage increases - Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis has indicated that 65,000 units of blood is needed to satisfy our population's transfusion needs - that works out to be 3% of our population. Go give blood.
I should state here that I can't. It's not that I don't want too (I can totally suck up my squickiness over needles to give blood!)... or that I'm not healthy... it's that I fall under the weight requirement. In my mind this completely sucks. When I was doing my first degree there was a blood drive - my friends and I were all excited to go... I didn't get to give because I was under the weight requirement. I've thought that as I get older I'd put on enough weight to reach that particular requirement... but nope. Still not there... which is in a way a good thing since I'm a tiny person but still... give blood... save lives... I've had my share of family in need of blood... I've known friends in need of blood... it pisses me off just a little bit that I'm not able to.
So. Go give blood... do it for me. Do it for all those that can't give and especially do it for all that will need blood. Basic requirements for giving: be in general good health, between the ages of 17 and 65, weigh more than 110 pounds... if you fit those requirements - I can't stress this enough - go give blood.
If you're in Trinidad and Tobago, more info on the Blood Bank and where you can donate is available here.
peace,
Ren
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