Are Prius owners more likely to donate blood?

[burritos]

Several months ago, someone queried if prius owners are more or less likely to return a shopping cart. It's a minor yet altruistic action that takes little effort but helps the (shopping) community and experience.

Blood donation I suppose would be a higher level of altruism(less altruistic than buying a prius though).Less than 5% of the population who can, do donate blood:

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/...or/bloddonr.htm

I'm wondering if it's more than 5 percent on this board donate.

Anyone else donate?

[seasalsa]

I've been a regular donor for years, passed the 5 gallon mark last year.

[Beryl Octet]

Yes. The Red Cross brings the bus by my workplace every few months. I also put shopping carts into their holders in the parking lot.

[auricchio]

I used to do so, but the bloodmobile seemed to always be staffed by less-experienced phlebotomists. I'd donated about ten times, then it seemed they'd always keep poking to find my elusive veins. I decided the discomfort wasn't worth it.

The "20 questions" business got to be so time-consuming, especially after we did some traveling, that I'd be investing nearly an hour of time before getting to the payoff.

But otherwise I'd still be a donor.

[chimohio]

I used to give blood but after the rules changed about donating if you lived overseas, I had to stop. I lived in Italy for two years after 1980 so they are not allowed to use my blood - ergo, no more donating.

[jamarimutt]

Are Prius owners more likely to shower every day? Any more silly questions?

[tochatihu]

The 'Prius more likely' aspect may well be a silly question, but may I please promote blood donation here? If you are generally healthy and can answer 'no' to their 'very personal questions', you can fill an irreplaceable need.

The American Red Cross is *not* a shining example among well-run charities, but in many areas they are the only blood option. If there are others near you, by all means please consider them.

If you have A positive or AB positive blood, and can withstand being 'plugged in' for an hour or two, you may be a potential platelet donor. Platelets are in extremely short supply for leukemia and burn victims.

I do not not wish to flog this further here, but anyone with the slightest interest in blood or platelet donation, please email me privately. Hybrid cars are important, but so are sick people.

DAS

[kimgh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Dec 16 2006, 12:32 PM) [snapback]363189[/snapback]</div>

Several months ago, someone queried if prius owners are more or less likely to return a shopping cart. It's a minor yet altruistic action that takes little effort but helps the (shopping) community and experience.

Blood donation I suppose would be a higher level of altruism(less altruistic than buying a prius though).Less than 5% of the population who can, do donate blood:

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/...or/bloddonr.htm

I'm wondering if it's more than 5 percent on this board donate.

Anyone else donate?
[/b]

I do a platelet donation about 3-4 times a year. This is a little more involved than blood donation; you get stuck in BOTH arms. They take blood out of one arm, centrifuge it, and put it back into the other arm (some of the centrifuges in use can do this with one arm. I think they pump blood out, centrifuge it, then pump it back).

This process, which is called apheresis, can be done more frequently than whole blood donation, and I think you can alternate whole blood donations with platelet donations, but I don't know how the scheduling works for that.

Platelets are used to boost the immune systems of people who have to undergo marrow transplants for treatement of some types of cancer. The process takes 2-3 hours from first stick to the visit to the snack...uh recovery table. So I allow 4-5 hours for the whole process, since the prelims are just as lengthy as for blood donation, and they want you to hang around at the recovery table 15-20 minutes.

Since both arms are tied up, you can't really read, so there is a TV screen and a selection of movies to watch while matters are proceeding.

So: I was doing this long before I even thought of owning a Prius, and I really doubt the two things are related. I'm not even sure that altruism was the main reason to buy a Prius; I just got tired of $45-50 fillups EVERY week. Now I have a $25 fillup every other week. MUCH better! I'm glad the Prius has lower emissions and I'm happy to help out with that and with the gasoline consumption issues, but those are icing on the cake of owning such a cool geek chic car and getting 45+ MPG on my commute.

[rfred]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasalsa @ Dec 16 2006, 03:02 PM) [snapback]363197[/snapback]</div>

I've been a regular donor for years, passed the 5 gallon mark last year.
[/b]

Well my next pint puts me over the five gallon mark...

[Alnilam]

How long must you have been cancer-free to donate? Is it five years?