The most important New Year’s resolution

We at The Blood Connection, your community blood center, would argue there is one New Year’s resolution that should top the list: save lives through blood donation.
 
While January is the start of the New Year, it is also National Blood Donor Month – an opportunity to recognize those across the country who regularly roll up their sleeves and save lives. Without the generosity of those who give so selflessly, millions of patients each year would not have the blood for emergency needs or ongoing treatments. 
 
Blood is a unique resource. It cannot be manufactured, meaning volunteers are the only way to provide blood to those in need. And the demand is unrelenting: every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs a blood transfusion, and one in seven patients entering a hospital will require blood for their treatment. 
 
All of us are likely to know someone who will need blood, at some point in our lives. Blood is used during labor deliveries, cancer treatments, traumas, surgeries, and many other reasons – every day. Despite this, only 3% of all Americans donate blood. That reality should trouble all of us. It certainly troubles me.
 
In addition, older Americans are among the most frequent donors while the rate of donations from those between the ages of 16 and 24 years old is decreasing drastically. That trajectory is unsustainable. The answer is looking many of us in the mirror: every eligible donor has the ability, and dare I say responsibility, to create a more reliable and available blood supply for our community.
 
Donating isn’t just simple, it’s also safe and can be done every 56 days (for whole blood) – giving all of us the opportunity to do a lot of good each year by saving up to 18 lives. It’s critical that donors seize these chances to make giving blood a routine way to give back.
 
The Blood Connection is this community’s blood center – supplying blood to more than 120 hospitals across the Carolinas and Georgia. By donating with TBC, you are ensuring that your blood donations are helping your neighbors in need.
 
We’ve all seen the images of people lining up at blood centers following an emergency, for which we are all grateful. However, many don’t realize that it’s the blood already on the shelves at the time of an event that helps those in immediate need. That’s why the best way to help after the next emergency is to give generously now, and whenever you’re eligible.  
 
Roughly 7 million blood donors walk into blood centers annually. We all owe a debt of gratitude for their dedication to helping save lives. That’s what this month is all about. As we make our resolutions for the new year, I encourage all those who can to make blood donation a priority. As a mother, sister, daughter, and community member, I’m personally asking you to please help TBC by sharing life. We can help save lives and support more people in our community, together.
 
To make an appointment to donate blood, or to find a convenient donation location, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate. 
 

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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