Morning, Greenville 👋 Ana here. Up until last Friday, I had never donated blood. No judgement please fellow Greenvillians – I have tried before multiple times and was turned away for various reasons. But on Friday, I decided I was going to do whatever I could to donate + help encourage those of you who might be first time donors like me.

The entire process was super easy, safe, and, believe it or not, pretty painless.🩸

Here’s what you need to do

○ Go to The Blood Connection's website. (The process to donate is pretty similar through The Red Cross, but as I donated through The Blood Connection (TBC), I will continue to reference their guidelines + information.)

○ Read the information on this page to see if you are eligible to give blood.

○ Click “Donate Now” to find a list of blood drive locations near you (I went to The Blood Connection’s Donor Center on Woodruff Road).

○ I would recommend making an appointment to help TBC maintain social distancing.

○ The day of your donation, complete the 47-question Medical History Questionnaire online to fasttrack your appointment. No worries if you can’t get to it ahead of time, you can always complete it on site if that works better for you.

○ When you arrive to donate blood, you can expect a short physical (temperature, pulse + blood pressure check, and a small finger prick to check your hemoglobin levels).

○ And that’s it. Sit down in the chair and relax – it will be over before you know it. #ProTip: If you’re a bit squeamish like me, don’t look at the donation site (aka the needle in your arm).

A couple of tips to remember

○ Get a good night’s sleep the night before.

○ Eat a hardy meal beforehand and give yourself an hour to digest.

○ Drink as much room temperature water as you can stand both the day of and a few days prior to get those veins nice and juicy. Continue to drink a lot of water afterwards too.

*Eating and drinking properly beforehand will help to keep you from passing out. However, if you do pass out (like I did) rest assured you are in well-trained + very capable, caring hands. I was up + about again in no time.

○ After you donate, avoid strenuous activities for the rest of the day.

○ Eat a lot of iron rich foods afterwards.

Cool things I learned

○ My blood type is A+. DYK: People with type O- blood are universal blood donors, but only 7% of the population has O- blood. To spend way more time than you need reading up on all the fascinating facts about blood types (like I did), click here.

○ There are about 10 pints of blood in your body. Roughly 1 pint is given during a donation – it can take some people a matter of hours to replenish that amount and others a few weeks.

○ A blood donation can save up to three lives, but less than 38% of the population is eligible to give blood or platelets.

○ You can also earn rewards points after donating that you can spend on gift cards to places like Sephora, Starbucks, Topgolf, and Lowe’s. I even received a Visa gift card for donating.

○ Right now, The Blood Connection is offering complimentary COVID-19 antibody testing for anyone who donates blood. My antibody test came back negative. Please note: “This is not COVID-19 diagnostic testing. Positive test results do not confirm infection or immunity.”

*Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive resource for donating blood. Please do your research beforehand and speak with your doctor before donating.

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