Hello Plasma Donation Community!

2012 Update

All, we are very excited to have author Michael S. Williams help us out the site. He’s written some great books about the blood donation industry. That said, we’ve gotten him to agree to donate 100% of the proceeds from ALL his books during National Blood Donor Month, January 2012! Please welcome Michael to the site and spread the word about blood donation today! More on National Blood Donor Month

Fall 2011 Update

7 years ago I looked online for where to donate blood…and found nothing…so I started bloodbanker.com as a free directory of blood donation centers as a way to educate and advocate why blood donation is SO important, (check out us back in 2004 )…and now thanks to some generous supporters, we got critically acclaimed blood industry expert Michael S. Williams to write for our site! I can’t begin to tell you how exciting this is for the Plasma & Cordblood communities!

The Bloodbanker :>) – Educating and advocating blood donation services since 2004!

Spring 2011 update!

Proud to announce a new way to find blood, cord, and plasma donation centers, on your mobile device. So far we only have an mobile app for the Android operating system.

Its called Blood Donation Gigs and is a way to find locations on your cell phone.

Also, we have a paid app that displays a “I support blood donation sticker” if you prefer to donate to the cause via your phone :)

How It’s Made Episode!

Anyone catch the “How it’s Made” blood donation episode? Well I’ve got it embedded below! It rocks!

The key points are:

  • Unique blood banking machine, automated testing for hepatitis B and C and HIV (aids virus)
  • in only 8 hours, 5 different blood tests on 1000 donations
  • Between tests the machine is sterilized
  • Tests the blood type (there are 8 blood types!)
  • Cool how gravity naturally separates the blood into different types.
  • Blood is separated using a centrifuge into 4 types (red blood, white blood cells, plasma, platelets)
  • Platelets only last 5 days, freeze plasma, use it for twelve months.
  • filter out white blood cells from red ones using a Leuko reduction filter.

Enjoy!

The Bloodbanker :>)

UPDATE: We are now in Canada we added another 30+ blood and plasma donation centers and cord blood banks here: Canada Blood Donation Centers

I get a ton of questions around how to donate blood, so I thought I’d make a post of the best videos. So here are some videos that show you the process in action. I’ll comment after each one so you know what the video is about before having to use up time watching it.

Also, check out Cord Blood Banking Technology, this is a VERY interesting field that people are doing extremely ($$$) well in.

If your looking to donate blood then find a bank and/or leave your own comments here: Blood Bank Directory

okay I have to call a spade a spade here this video is pretty cheesy, but it does make a great point that plasma is SO needed everyday to help out people. For reasons of full disclosure yes plasma blood is used for make-up and other cosmetic products. Here is how I got into supporting this cause: Why Donate Plasma

This one shows the quick and dirty donation process, its only 14 seconds long and will give you an idea of how you sit in a chair and get a needle poked in your arm then the rest of the time you just chill in your seat. So if you just want the facts real quick, then here is my quick explaination to the plasma blood donation process

This video shows the guy getting the iodine on him (to clean up the spot where the needle goes) and then through the whole process of getting the blood flowing into the machine it is kind of long, but gives you that 1st person view of what the donor sees. Also, check this out If your interested in what are the best methods for making a healthy blood donation

This is one I put up a while back, it shows some kids painfully spitting out some lines around donating plasma okay this one is pretty lame as well, but I like that it is an attempt to get the word out give it an A for effort? If your interested in more Blood Donation Humor here is a poor attempt at providing something funny.

I have to admit that this one is prolly the best for its plasma donation information, they really give you some good overview about the process and how to go about it. BUT, I also have to admit that the claymation aspect kind of freaks me out so this video is not of the weak ;) Also, if your interested in some cool stats about how far your plasma donation goes then take a look at that page. I have to admit that I am still SHOCKED by those stats.

Hey I hoped you enjoyed these videos, spread the word of BloodBanker.com!

And again, go here to Find a blood donation center near you