Blood Donation Nutrition

Video Transcript

"Believe it or not low iron is one of our reasons for, our biggest reasons, for deferrals. We are really, really battling, and have been for about the last six months, deferring and seeing a lot of donors turned away for having low iron. There's many, many different reasons for low iron. We see, a lot of times I'll see donors say, "I can't give, I'm anemic." I'll say, "Well, remember now, anemia can change. If you, you know, you make a change in diet, you make an add some iron supplements to your diet, you may even can cook in an iron skillet and change your iron level which would, hopefully, help you become a successful donor for us. But we have really struggled, like I said, in the last six months with low iron. So we're taking that as an opportunity through the recruitment department to, hopefully, educate donors and sponsors ahead of time. That you need to really, really plan ahead and plan ahead well, thinking about your next donation. I know, myself, when I'm getting ready to donate. I very rarely go in just on a spur of the moment and donate blood. Because I like to get myself ready. I want to make sure I've had plenty to drink, you know, hydrate your body well. Foods that are iron rich foods, getting ready to donate. I want my iron level to be as strong and as high as it can be. Because it not only helps me, it makes the unit of blood that I'm going to donate that much better for the patient in the hospital because the red cells are going to be that much more stronger, more viable. I try to do that as much as I can. But, we really want people to think about, before you donate, make sure that you've taken care of yourself, you've had plenty to drink. You know, you're eating those turnip greens, those collard greens, those pinto beans cooked in an iron skillet. All those things really do work to increase your iron level to make sure that you can be a successful donor. Because, we don't want you to come and wait 15, 20 minutes then get in to the history booth, get your finger stuck, and then be deferred for low iron. Sometimes, when people get deferred for that reason, they take that as an opportunity to not come back. They can say, "I've been deferred now for low iron, I don't ever, ever have to go back." Well, we need you to come back. So we want you to be successful, make sure you've educated yourself well ahead of time you've had plenty to eat, plenty to drink. But, just thinking about that, drinking the waters with your meals and eating well before you give blood will, hopefully, take care of you nutritious situation before you give blood."