Donating money isn’t the only way you can help people. You can also give your blood.

Of the approximately 62 percent of Americans eligible to donate blood, only 3 percent do so each year. But someone needs blood every few seconds in the US. While the average red blood cell transfusion is about three units, a single car accident victim can need up to 100 units of blood.

Key takeaways

• Very few people eligible to donate blood do so each year.
• The need for blood is even greater around the holiday season. Blood has a limited shelf life and is used for many medical treatments.
• Efforts are underway to create synthetic blood, but it won’t replace the real thing. Consider doing your part to ensure patients get the blood they need.

However, as temperatures dip and the holiday season approaches, blood donations drop off dramatically. Schools go on break, seasonal illnesses spike, and many places experience inclement weather. And New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe) — a community-based blood center which, despite the name, serves over 17 states and upwards of 75 million people — regularly sees a nearly 50 percent drop in donations in the last few weeks of the year.

“We know everybody’s schedules get really busy,” Diane Calmus, the vice president of government affairs at America’s Blood Centers, told me. But people “continue to have babies and can hemorrhage. Car accidents continue to happen. Cancer patients continue to need treatment.” All of these situations require a continuous blood supply.

The problem is one of supply more than demand. Donor blood must be screened for diseases as well as compatibility with recipients to avoid serious — and potentially fatal — consequences. The US blood supply also relies almost entirely on an unpaid volunteer system, and for good reason, but getting enough people to donate is a difficult challenge.

“We’re supplying our hospitals’ most urgent, most immediate needs,” said Chelsey Smith, the senior director of public relations at NYBCe, “but we essentially have no cushion at all when it comes to emergencies or unexpected traumas.”

The Vox guide to giving

The holiday season is giving season. This year, Vox is exploring every element of charitable giving — from making the case for donating 10 percent of your income, to recommending specific charities for specific causes, to explaining what you can do to make a difference beyond donations. You can find all of our giving guide stories here.

But, in addition to donating blood, there are ways we can work to solve our shortage problems by loosening outdated restrictions and developing creative approaches to expand access to blood — or lab-grown alternatives.

“If every single eligible person donated blood at least once a year, we would not have blood shortages in this country,” Smith said. “That’s the reality.”

How blood donation works

First, here’s some background on what you’re donating when you give your blood.

When you picture a blood donation, you’re probably thinking of whole blood. It’s the most flexible donation type and requires the least time commitment. If you’re eligible to donate, you can do so every 56 days — up to 6 times a year.

Blood is made up of four parts — plasma, white and red blood cells and your platelets. You can donate these individually, but most donations are of whole blood, which comes directly from your veins. It can be transfused as-is to a single person rapidly losing blood, or separated out into red blood cells, plasma, and platelets to help up to three people.

Why I wrote this

I’ve been donating on and off since I first became eligible at 17. Like many people, I learned my blood type after donating for the first time. I’m not squeamish around blood or afraid of needles, and I like knowing that something my body produces on its own is able to positively transform up to three lives. It’s a relatively easy way to do good.

Like most people, I donate more often when it’s convenient. School- and workplace-based drives make it simple, but it’s a challenge to find the time to go out of my way to a blood donation center. I donated most often in college and when I worked at a hospital with a blood bank onsite, and not at all during the COVID-19 lockdown.

I’ve never had much trouble post-donation, and I find the whole process fascinating. So I set out to find what does — and doesn’t — work to incentivize donors. I think I came away with more questions than answers, and learned a lot about debates within the blood banking community. And I learned a lot about blood shortages, efforts to create synthetic blood, and blood itself.

Have questions, comments, or ideas? Email me: shayna.korol@voxmedia.com

While there are 48 recognized blood groups, the most important for transfusion are the ones you’re probably already familiar with: A , A-, B , B-, AB , AB-, O , O-. Your blood type is genetic and determined by the antigens — substances that trigger immune reactions if they’re foreign to your body — on the surface of your red blood cells.

There’s a very good chance that anyone reading this is likely O . Outside of some countries in Europe and Asia, it’s the most common blood type in the world. About 38 percent of Americans, myself included, have O blood. Black and Latino Americans are more likely to be O than white and Asian Americans.

But since there are more than 300 blood antigens, some people have extremely rare blood types like Rh null — called “golden blood” because it is so rare that there are fewer than 50 known cases in the entire world — or the Bombay phenotype, which occurs in 1 in one million people in Europe and 1 in 10,000 people in India. People with these blood types can only receive blood from others with the same type, which is a problem because there are so few donors, and you can suffer severe medical complications and even die from receiving incompatible blood.

Some blood antigens are more common in people of certain ethnic backgrounds, and patients with blood disorders who receive frequent transfusions need more closely matched blood to avoid complications. Conditions like sickle cell disease and thalassemia are significantly more common in people of certain ancestries; chronically........

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