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Blood donations have fallen to catastrophic levels. Experts say young people need to step up. (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Changes to the requirements for donating blood coupled with the pandemic have led to a drop-off in the number of teens and young adults donating blood.

It was a white T-shirt bearing the likeness of Snoopy wearing shades and leaning effortlessly against the iconic American Red Cross logo that prompted a surge in blood donations in the spring of 2023.

“Be cool. Give blood,” the shirt urged. The message — on young people, anyway — was effective. More than 70,000 people under age 35 responded to the call, rolling up their sleeves and giving blood in exchange for the coveted tees.

The need for blood is urgent. Over the holidays, the Red Cross had 7,000 fewer units of blood available than were needed by hospitals, said Dr. Eric Gehrie, the executive medical director of the American Red Cross. The organization speculated it would need about 8,000 additional donations every week in January to ensure that hospitals are fully supplied, he added.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I hear what you're saying, but young people like us not donating blood only ends up screwing us later. We're not hurting "the olds" by not donating blood. The point of the article is that when people donate blood when they're young, they tend to continue doing it more throughout their lives.

If you're looking for personal rewards, it's a free way to reduce the microplastics in your blood stream, of which young people tend to have more. And it's just the right thing to do. This seems like a fairly poignant example of misplaced, impotent intergenerational anger.

Not donating blood isn't how this gets resolved. But, I do understand how symbolically this feels weird. Nevertheless, as I recall, people under 40 are more likely to suffer injuries involving massive blood loss (guns being the #1 cause of death for people under 18 surely plays into that), and reducing the available blood supply doesn't seem to get us anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, sorry. I'm not saying I think its a conscious decision to screw people over or that people only donate since they get something out of it. I think it's just one more social responsibility that gets lost under the rest of everything going on.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

I'm hearing it better now and generally agree. Thanks for clarifying. It sucks that it is that way, and it sucks that things being sucky makes good people more sucky. But I'm not blaming, just bummed.