posted on September 8, 2004 08:20:11 PM new
Groups Offers Beer for Blood Donations
Wed Sep 8, 5:08 PM ET
By CONNIE MABIN, Associated Press Writer
CLEVELAND - Some in Michigan who roll up their sleeves to donate blood will get a racetrack T-shirt, hat and pin. Sponsors in San Diego have given away whale-watching trips. On Wednesday, the Cleveland Regional Transit Authority handed out vouchers for a pint of any beverage, including beer, in exchange for a pint of blood.
Red Cross in northeast Ohio. "I can see co-workers or neighbors getting together days following the drive to enjoy a celebratory drink for having helped others."
Kelley said the supply in northeast Ohio area including Cleveland was critically low. There was less than a half day's worth of type A negative, for example. Without new donations, area hospitals will be forced to rely on neighboring states for blood — if those states can spare it.
Nationally, there was about 2 1/2 days' worth of blood on hand Wednesday. A healthy supply is five to seven days' worth, said Michelle Hudgins, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.
Hudgins said the vouchers handed out in Cleveland can be used for any beverage in the city's Warehouse District, a collection of trendy bars, night clubs and restaurants near downtown.
But beer or any other kind of alcohol is an option, as long as the donor is over the legal age of 21 and waits at least 24 hours after giving blood to drink alcohol. Giving blood leaves people dehydrated, so the alcohol could have an extra strong effect too soon after donating.
Frank Humr, a city firefighter who donated Wednesday afternoon, said he'd give his voucher away.
"I don't drink anymore," said Humr, 44. "Maybe I'll buy someone a beer. I donated blood, I'll donate my beer."
Kelley said the point was more about getting the attention of the 95 percent of eligible blood donors who don't give.
"The voucher is for a beverage of your choice. In my case that would probably be a mocha latte with shaved chocolate," Kelley said.
The transit authority also gave away free bus rides to the drive site in the Warehouse District to downtown workers who wanted to donate during the event, which ends Thursday.
"To get the blood supply up beyond emergency levels, we all need to do our part," said Joe Calabrese, the authority's general manager.
The idea to trade brew for blood has been used before — local breweries in Colorado last fall gave away free beer during a drive for the United Blood Services of Durango. And businesses and other sponsors of blood drives for years have been giving away goodies such as pizza, pies or coupons for discounts on books.
The Red Cross Great Lakes Blood Services and Michigan International Speedway are teaming up for a blood drive on Saturday. Donors get a Spirit of America 400 T-shirt, hat and pin. Kodak will give away disposable cameras and donors will be offered other gifts, including ice cream and track tours.
In February 2003, the San Diego Blood Bank had a drive in which participants got a voucher for a whale-watching trip courtesy of local sports fishing shops.
Hudgins, the Red Cross spokeswoman, said the group appreciates the push for donors but can't always promise incentives.
"We don't want them to donate just because there's something in it for them," she said. "The real gift is that they could be saving up to three lives."
posted on September 8, 2004 09:10:41 PM new
If it works why not. Rewards are good if they benefit someone and this one does. I bet 12 tried to go every other day.
Yellowstone - One reason is that the American Red Cross cannot give their executives large raises if nobody donates money. The reason for blood donation is nobody makes a profit. The only one benefiting from that is the patients themselves. I don't know if it is that way anymore since Barbara Dole was Executive as she straightened things out, but it was before that.
posted on September 8, 2004 09:24:33 PM new
I think the reason they quite paying blood donors is it because it, now how can I make it gentle, didn't bring in the undesirables. With the onset of many bad diseases they would prefer people that didn't want pay for their blood to donate as they are the ones that they presumed to be disease free.
posted on September 8, 2004 10:16:09 PM new
I wasn't refurring to that davebraun. I was refurring to why they don't pay blood donors any more. When they stopped paying donors for their blood that is when the donors that needed money stopped donating their blood.
posted on September 8, 2004 10:38:37 PM new
Maybe I'm missing something
I think the reason they quite paying blood donors is it because it, now how can I make it gentle, didn't bring in the undesirables. With the onset of many bad diseases they would prefer people that didn't want pay for their blood to donate as they are the ones that they presumed to be disease free.
I didn't realize only the upper middle class and above donate
posted on September 8, 2004 10:41:39 PM new
All blood banks work in conjunction with each other. Even though they are separate entities they have guidelines they must follow to assure the blood you are getting is free of disease.
The following is a part of the Red Cross Blood donation program and what they are doing.
What Happens to Every Blood Donation?
While the blood supply is safer than ever, the Red Cross has continued to make important advances in testing and processing.
Assuring the safety of the blood supply is a high-tech process requiring at least nine specific tests; proper processing, labeling, and storage; and vigilant quality control.
Routine donations are now tested for HIV and hepatitis C through nucleic acid testing (NAT), an investigational test that may reduce the "window period" — the time between a virus infecting the blood and the body forming antibodies that can be detected.
The Red Cross has also made progress in providing a universally leukoreduced blood supply (removal of contaminated white cells), with virtually all blood provided as leukoreduced products in 2001. This is important because leukocytes (white blood cells) may not be tolerated well when transfused with red blood cells.
posted on September 8, 2004 10:48:40 PM new
Well Dave they do. When they paid donors for their blood they had many pints that had to be destroyed as some donors used giving their blood so they have money.
It was a scarry time during the seventies for the millions of patients that received blood and they didn't know if it was infected with Hepitis C and HIV as when donors filled out their questionaire they lied so they could donate. The questionaires were quite personal.
posted on September 8, 2004 11:45:50 PM new
There are still some "for-profit" companies that pay blood donors, but it seems they mostly target college students: http://www.ohiou.edu/perspectives/9902/prospec.htm
However, non-profit organizations such as the Red Cross no longer do, for the reasons already given. Because of the chronic blood shoratge these days some people wouldlike to revive the custom,but it is not considered really safe to do so. Here is an abstacton the topic:
Paying for blood donations: still a risk?
C. L. van der Poel1 E. Seifried2 & W. P. Schaasberg3
It is presently disputed whether studies indicating a higher risk of infectious diseases among paid blood donors are lessons of the past, or still hold relevance. Comparative studies published between 1968 and 2001 were assessed for a possible trend of change in the relative risk for infectious disease markers between paid and unpaid blood or plasma donors. Studies reporting that paid donors had lower risk were found, but most studies, including recent ones, continued to report that paid donors have higher rates of infectious disease markers than unpaid donors. By log-linear regression analysis of the relative risk estimates for infectious disease markers among paid and unpaid donors from 28 published data sets, evidence was not found to indicate that the difference in risk for infectious disease markers between paid donors and unpaid donors had diminished over time (P = 0·128, not significant). Paid donors are still more likely than unpaid donors to donate blood in the period during which infectious donations escape detection by blood-screening tests (the 'window-period'). Therefore, paid donations have a higher risk that labile blood components (such as red blood cells and platelets) are infected. Additional safety measures for handling plasma donations, and the preparation, purification and viral-inactivation steps employed for the production of plasma derivatives, may render the difference in infectious disease marker rates in donors irrelevant for plasma products. However, not all viruses are inactivated and paid donors were repeatedly found to have higher frequencies of markers for emerging agents. In a quality system, critical steps of the process should be addressed, and selection of the donor population is one of the first steps in this process. It is advised that blood establishments present yearly reports (with complete and raw data) to authorities on the incidence and prevalence of infectious disease markers among their donors as an ongoing surveillance on the 'quality' of their donor populations. Paid blood or plasma donors still have higher rates for infectious disease markers than unpaid donors.
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