By Gene Lambey
Special to the AFRO
During the National Blood Donor Month of January, the AFRO is taking a moment to acknowledge the importance of blood donation and concerns regarding the service in the Black community.
Donating blood at blood banks, blood drives or hospitals may in fact save someone’s life.
In the Black community, there is often skepticism on donating blood or worries based on a lack of information. To combat this, the AFRO spoke with Dr. Cyril Jacquot, director of the Hematology Laboratory and the Blood Donor Center at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., along with Janie Parrot, a recruiter for the Blood Donor Center at the same institution.
“People from historically underserved communities, especially people who are Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino, tend to hesitate more. It’s important to get information out about the need to donate in their communities. Each person has different antigens (for example, proteins and sugars) on their red blood cells. A diverse blood donor population ensures the blood bank can find compatible blood for all patients.”
In a study from the American Red Cross, sickle cell disease is the most common “genetic blood disease in the U.S., most commonly affecting individuals of African descent.”
People who have sickle cell disease regularly receive blood transfusions to suppress sickle cell complications such as organ failure, stroke and other devastating conditions.
According to this same study from the American Red Cross, one in three African Americans are possible matches for a sickle cell patient.
“Research shows that the mutation causing sickle cell disease arose in Africa thousands of years ago to help protect against malaria, a historically major cause of death there. Over time, as sickle cell disease emerged, it became known by various names in different tribal languages in Africa, long before it was discovered in western medicine,” states the American Red Cross, on their website. “While sickle cell disease affects people across the world of all backgrounds, the greatest number of affected patients in the U.S. are those with African ancestry.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that “sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. In SCD, the red blood cells become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a ‘sickle.’”
People with the sickle cell trait do not have the complications of someone who has sickle cell disease. For Black or African-American babies, one in thirteen are born with the sickle cell trait.
Information from the CDC, shows that sickle cell disease “occurs among about one out of every 365 Black or African-American births,” compared to “one out of every 16,300 Hispanic-American births.”
In a report from the American Blood Center, “approximately 3 percent” of the eligible U.S. population donates blood on an annual basis, highlighting the need for donors.
“Blood donation absolutely helps the community. There is no artificial source of blood. All life-saving transfusions come from generous donors.”
Dr. Jacquot and Parrot told the AFRO that many patients in need of blood transfusions include, “trauma patients, surgery patients, cancer patients, and sickle cell disease patients.” A blood donation does not add direct health benefits to the donor however, it does give the donor a sense of purpose and achievement.
The American Red Cross reports that there are multiple methods of blood donation, including whole blood donations, power red donations, platelet donations and plasma donations.
A whole blood donation defined by the American Red Cross is, “the most flexible type of donation.” In this process, the blood can be transfused in its original form, or used to help multiple people. The blood can be separated into specific components of red cells, white cells, plasma and platelets.
The whole blood donation procedure takes approximately one hour and it takes a pint or half a liter of blood from the donor. Whole blood donations are needed for patients fighting cancer, life-threatening injuries, blood disorders and many more conditions. All blood types can be used for whole blood donations.
In the process of a power red donation, the patient gives a concentrated dosage of red cells in the blood. The American Red Cross states that red cells are used “every day for those needing transfusions.”
Power red donations use a process which separates the donor’s blood cells from the bloodstream. After the red blood cells have been extracted, the remaining blood components are returned back into the donor’s bloodstream. The name of this process of extracting a certain component of a donor’s blood is apheresis. An apheresis, described by the Mayo Clinic is when the donor “is hooked up to a machine that collects and separates different parts of your blood.”
Power red donations, according to the American Red Cross, are given to patients under trauma, emergency transfusions after childbirth, patients with sickle cell disease, anemia or anyone suffering blood loss.
The time frame for a power red donation takes up to an hour and thirty minutes. The ideal blood types are O-positive, O-negative, A-negative and B-negative.
The platelet donation process concentrates on extracting the platelets in the donor’s blood. The platelets, stated by the American Red Cross, are “tiny cells in your blood that form clots and stop bleeding.”
A platelet donation uses an apheresis machine to extract the platelets from the donor’s blood and then returns the remaining elements of the blood back to the donor. The process of a platelet donation takes approximately three hours. The ideal blood types that the American Red Cross prefers for platelet donations are A-positive, A-negative, B-positive, O-positive, AB-positive and AB-negative.
The platelets are a vital element for cancer treatments, organ transplants and surgical procedures. Platelet donations are separate from standard blood donations under American Red Cross Donation Centers.
These are appointment based donations and are only offered at a select number of donation centers.
Plasma donations are also known as AB Elite donations. These donations extract the plasma from the donor’s blood, which is used for emergencies.
Plasma donations use the apheresis machine to extract the plasma, separating the components within the donor’s blood. After the plasma has been extracted through the apheresis machine, the remaining components within the donor’s blood are returned.
The donation process takes approximately an hour and fifteen minutes. The ideal blood type that the American Red Cross prefers are AB-positive and AB-negative.
In preparing for a blood donation, the AFRO advises readers to comply with the American Red Cross’ guidelines. Donors that are above the age of 17, weigh at least 110 lbs and in good health are eligible for blood donations.
Dr. Jacquot and Parrot presented to the AFRO the statistics on blood types within the U.S.
“The universal blood type for red blood cells is O. The universal blood type for plasma and platelets is AB. However, all blood types are needed to support our patient. In the U.S., about 45 percent of donors are O, 40 percent are A, 10 percent are B and 5 percent are AB.”
Experts advise donors to rest well the day before their blood donation and to eat a well-balanced meal. They should also be well hydrated before their appointment.
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