An Ingredient for Life

As any chef will tell you, a recipe is only as good as its ingredients. Some of those ingredients are less important than others, while a dish can be ruined without one certain element that is vital to its success. For the Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City, that vital ingredient never changes—blood is the one element that is always needed to complete the recipe for a saved life.

With six locations in various parts of the region, CBC is committed to providing a life-saving blood supply to more than 70 hospitals and 70 counties in Missouri and Kansas. By utilizing blood drives and partnering with organizations all over the community, CBC maintains a consistent inventory level of blood, sending out 3,600 units to local hospitals each week—or at least they try to.

As Bridget Smith, director of donor recruitment, explains, "The shelf life for blood is only 42 days. Once that time is up, the blood is no longer useable. But the need never goes away."

With a continually ticking expiration date on the blood supply, CBC looks to the Kansas and Missouri communities for blood donations. Unfortunately, many people share the same mentality when it comes to blood donation: Someone else will do it. If only that were true.

"On average, about 37 percent of the population is eligible to donate blood," says Kay Reeves, manager of donor recruitment. "The biggest hurdle we face is that only 7 percent of those eligible donors ever actually donate their blood."

With numbers like that, it's no wonder the CBC is in constant danger of running low on its supply. The silver lining? There's an easy solution: more people in the chairs, donating more often.

"The average donor only donates 1.5 times per year, when they can actually donate every 56 days," says Reeves. "If that average donor increased their donations to just two times a year, there would never be a shortage of blood. It makes that much of a difference. If we added more donors to our list, we'd have even less of an issue."

It really is a no brainer. Blood saves lives, and that life being saved could someday be yours.  So if you're considering giving back to your community in a quick, easy and instantly gratifying way, giving blood is as good as it gets. And there's no time like the present.

"We get 22 percent of our blood donations from high school students during school blood drives," explains Smith. "When those students are home for three months in the summer, they aren't at blood drives. That's when we really need the community to step up and come forward."

The CBC encourages blood donation any time a donor is available, and they make it easy. On any given day, there is likely one of the more than 2,500 annual blood drives going on near you. In addition, the CBC has five locations that take blood on a daily basis, and you can easily make an appointment online to schedule your donation.

The CBC understands that donating blood or platelets for the first time can be a bit nerve-racking, so the staff encourages you to put yourself at ease by becoming educated. Read up on becoming a blood or platelet donor at www.SaveALifeNow.org and determine whether you're an eligible donor. And if you are? Don't wait. After all, for every one blood donation you make, you are helping as many as two patients. That's a gift worth giving over and over again.

Kim Antisdel is a Kansas City based writer, interior designer and sales rep. Her favorite place to write is curled up on the couch with her two rescue cats and two rescue dachshunds fighting for a spot on her lap.

As always, please consult your health care provider with any questions or concerns.