Locate a Blood Drive
Contact the American Red Cross to locate a blood drive or donation center convenient to you.
Confirm Your Eligibility
Confirm your eligibility to donate blood. You must meet the minimum age requirement established by your state (either 16 or 17 years old) and weigh at least 110 pounds. You must feel healthy.
Preparation
The American Red Cross recommends a good night's sleep before your donation day. The day of your donation, eat a good breakfast or lunch, drink extra fluids and eat iron-rich foods. This will help replace the blood volume you donate. Avoid fatty foods. Your blood may have to be discarded if fatty material in the blood interferes with infectious disease testing.
Medical Screening
When you arrive at the donation center, a staff member will ask you a series of health and lifestyle questions. Chronic conditions do not necessarily exclude you from eligibility. Travel questions screen for people at high risk for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a potentially fatal illness transmitted by blood products.
Donation
Tell a staff member if you have any large veins in your arms particularly suitable for drawing blood. When a good vein is found, you will be asked to roll your sleeve above your elbow. You may want to wear short sleeves. A staff member will clean your arm with antiseptic and insert a needle into a vein in your arm. Usually one pint of blood is removed. The process takes six to 10 minutes.
After Donation
Drink the juice and eat the cookies provided after donation. This helps your body adjust to the lower blood volume. Do not attempt strenuous physical activity for the next five hours. For the next day or two, drink plenty of fluids to rehydrate your body. If you notice any unusual bleeding from the needle insertion site, apply pressure to the site and raise your arm for three to five minutes. If you have bruising, apply ice packs. If you think something is wrong and you need medical attention, call the American Red Cross toll-free number or your doctor immediately.
Donating Again
In the United States, federal regulations allow you to donate blood no more than once every 56 days. This applies only to whole blood, but not plasma, platelets or other blood products. On the rare circumstance that you are able to donate two pints of blood, the waiting period doubles to 112 days.
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