I showed up for my January appointment and it was 29 degrees outside. I had eaten my breakfast, and drank three glasses of water (and two cups of coffee), and thought I was prepared for blood donation. Cold temps got my hemoglobin and blood pressure pretty low and so I had to warm up prior to donating! Glad they check so thoroughly to make sure that I can donate safely.
However, donations in cold months are harder to get, people don't want to leave home! If you have never donated blood, I can recommend the Ocean City Blood Drive as a first step. The food donations alone from local Ocean City restaurants was well worth it. I had two pieces of pizza, two donuts and left with an entire box of girl scout cookies!
January 20th at the Ocean City Convention Center or make an appointment at www.delmarvablood.org
I saw the stress on the volunteers faces as they made phone calls to prior donors asking them to come in due to the winter shortage of blood. Let's give these great volunteers a reason to smile. Take a friend, make a dinner date of it, just go… I promise it only hurts a little and it makes your heart happy!
Thanks for reading.
