This article is about blood donation. I will present you my view as a blood donor and try to point you out why you should become a blood donor yourself if you fill the requirements.

Before I continue I should tell you that my experiense is related to the Greek medical system.

There are two different cases of blood donation. The donation for a specific recipient or the donation for an anonymous recipient.

OK, the first is pretty clear. A relative/friend/colleague or something needs blood because she/he will have a surgery or lost blood for some other reason. The hospital won’t give blood except if it is an emergency so the person in need has to look for volunteers from her/his inner circle.

The anonymous recipient case is when the hospital stores the blood to it’s blood bank for emergencies or for cases that need regular blood transfusions.

Anyway, in both cases the donation is voluntary in the Greek medical system, in terms that nobody should donate blood for money or other things in return.

You should visit a public hospital with a blood department, fill in a questionnaire about your health status, have a 5 minute interview with the doctor where she/he will check your pressure and maybe check you hemoglobin levels (with a little pinch) and if it is ok the donation will take 10-15 minutes to be completed.

After that you’ll get a free juice and something saulty and you shouldn’t drive or smoke for an hour. Also, avoid the weight lifting from the arm that was used for the procedure.

If you want more details you can read the article in wikipedia!

Because people are in constant need for blood. Here you can find how much blood some common medical procedures require.

Have in mind that some people are born with health conditions that make them need regular blood tranfusions (i.e. Anemia , etc).

Many people don’t feel comfordable in the view of blood or are afreaid of the needles. Some of them haven’t a single blood test in their lifetime.

Some others are just ignorant of the procedure and haven’t looked into it.

And finally, not all the people fill the requirements to be blood donors.

Except the last category all the others should overcome their fears and suspensions and consider seriusly the blood donation.

The first time I donated blood was for a friend of a fellow ninja back when I was doing ninjutsu.

Until then I hadn’t considered donating blood. I believe this is why I hadn’t any blood donor nearby me to get inspired in the first place.

However, after my first experiense with blood donation I was very positive with that but I actually started donating regularly a couple of years after that.

The fact is that what have motivated me the most is that I have found people from my friendly circle that were interested in blood donation and arranged with them to go and donate blood.

After your first voluntary blood donation you will get your donor card. There is your blood donation history.

The most significant benefit is that in case you or a relative of yours needs blood you are entitled some blood units.

However, I honestly hope yourself never need blood for you or your relatives!