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.
I know it is bad but i completely understand why.
A group of people who cannot afford health care and are at risk of crippling debt from medical issues are reluctant to donate blood.
Exactly.
Scenario: A person regularly donates blood for years and receives no benefit from it.
Later they need to receive transfusions due to surgery or medical emergency.
They are charged several thousand dollars for the transfusions, the same amount as a person who has never donated.
What is their motivation to donate again?
I wonder if the same trend exists here in the UK or other countries with national health service.
I must say paying people to give blood seems like a horrible idea, it incentivizers people with reasons not to give blood such as illness or drug use to lie. Sadly testing and screening isn’t very effective so it would likely cause problems.
Did that change? At one time if you donated blood, you didn’t charge if you later needed blood…
In a society that bleeds us for every cent it can get its claws on, why would we be expected to turn around and donate anything?
We’ve been trained that nothing happens without payment… if you want my blood, make an offer.
It’s always young people who’re asked to step up. Again and again. Save the environment whilst corporations fuck us; care for the aging population; buy a house and contribute to the economy; fight in proxy wars over a politician’s pride. And now it’s give blood whilst still being charged extortionate medical costs. Why don’t the older generations step up for a change?
Did you bother to even read the (very short) article? Basically the whole thing is about how people age 40-65 donate more than half of all blood in the country, and that the significant declines in blood donations has been in the under 30 demographic.
With less blood donors, blood becomes more expensive and therefore increases medical costs. As the most generous donation demographics continue to age, those that can still qualify to give blood decreases.
I don’t think they were talking about how older generations need to donate more. My take on the article and their comment was that younger generations are being asked to “step up” and help the country/people, but in return get shafted on life.
House and food prices doubled over the past 2 years while pay stagnated. Medical bills soar without any signs of universal healthcare being implemented in my lifetime. Student loan debt was temporarily deferred, but now might even need to be reversed with interest. The most the Red Cross can do is say, “We’ll give you a shirt if you donate! And maybe a chance to win Super Bowl tickets!” But in return hospitals can charge $219 for the blood.
Overall it’s demoralizing. While people should donate because it’s needed, it’s just a symptom of a larger problem of young people (adults participating in society though) being expected to keep giving without having their voice heard.
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.
Student loan debt deferment was a joke as it merely shifted the problem down the road.
The system that charges 70k for a four year degree still exists, maybe we should take care of the gushing artery instead of continually giving unsustainable blood bags to them. No pun intended for the current thread.
Why? So when we need it they can sell it back to us for $10k/liter?
This is why I “donate” plasma instead. Still helping people, can do it more often, and my first month after a long break gave me $600 in 6 visits
It’s gonna drop down to maybe $150-250 in the next month but it’ll still be at least $25 for an hour out of my day twice a week.
Would be nice if there were no monetary system so it weren’t so exploitative but hey, I’ll keep dreaming
Sure, I’ll donate when I’m not working 70 hour weeks and actually have some time to.
