When blood is phenotypically matched (i.e., close blood type match), patients are at a lower risk of developing complications from transfusion therapy. For this reason, it is extremely important to increase the number of available blood donors from all ethnic and racial groups. Free Health Screening and Blood Tests Your Health Screening When you come in to donate, you help provide lifesaving care to patients in need. But you also receive the added benefit of a free mini-health assessment, provided by a trained Red Cross staff member. Prior to donating blood, all donors will receive a free health screening. At the time of your donation, your blood pressure, hemoglobin, and pulse will be checked. We record these vitals in your online donor profile where you can track and monitor your results. You can access this information as well as past health information obtained during prior donations, at any time. Your online profile is a great resource to track your health goals and share with your care providers. Your health is an important part of your donor journey and key to continuing to help others in need. Pulse Your pulse will be checked before every Red Cross blood donation. Staff will measure the number of times your heart beats per minute and count any irregular heartbeats. Your pulse rate gives insights into your heart rhythm and how well your heart may be working. A heart rate that is too fast, too slow, or irregular can indicate an underlying condition. Hemoglobin The Red Cross checks your hemoglobin before every donation to ensure that you are healthy enough to donate. Hemoglobin is a protein that contains iron and carries oxygen to the tissues in your body. Iron is essential to help your body to replace new red blood cells lost through blood donations.
After each blood donation, your unit will be sent to our labs to undergo Sickle Cell Trait Screening. Sickle Cell Trait Screening For a limited time, the American Red Cross is screening all donations from self-identified multiracial and Black or African American donors for sickle cell trait. This additional screening will help the Red Cross identify compatible blood types more quickly to help sickle cell patients and provide these donors additional health insight during a time when health information has never been more important. Empowering Youth To Help Patients With Sickle Cell Disease. The Sickle Cell Fighter High School Scholarship Program is a student scholarship program that will reward schools that successfully collect blood from donors who are Black or African American, supporting the goal of helping sickle cell patients by diversifying the blood supply. The top ten high schools in the country that host at least one blood drive and collect the most units (minimum of 50) from donors who self- identify as Black or African American this school year, will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship. Empowering youth to help patients with sickle cell disease. The American Red Cross Sickle Cell Fighter High School Scholarship program is a student scholarship program that will reward schools that successfully collect blood from donors who are Black, supporting the goal of helping sickle cell patients by diversifying the blood supply. The top ten high schools in the country that host at least one blood drive and collect the most units from donors who self-identify as African American (minimum of 50) this school year, will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship. How to get involved Schedule Red Cross blood drives between July 1—June 30. If your school is one of the top ten high schools in the country with the most total productive units from Red Cross self-identified African American donors, the Red Cross will provide a $5,000 monetary award to be used for an educational
13 The Acumen
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