Red Cross Month                                                                    March 31th 2023

Written by: McKenzie Guertin 

Red Cross Month is an important month that helps raise awareness of the organization as a whole and its mission to help the growing humanitarian crisis. It was first recognized as an official tradition in 1943 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed March as Red Cross Month. This March marks the 80th anniversary of Red Cross Month being an official tradition. 

The purpose of Red Cross Month is to help and offer help to the people who need it. It’s a globally recognized humanitarian network that helps people who are facing disasters, health, conflict, and social issues. 

When it was established 75 years ago they embraced 7 fundamental principles: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity, and Universality. These 7 principles, assure that the practices and activities completed by Red Cross associates and volunteers are for a good cause and for the benefit of those in need. 

With March being the month dedicated to Red Cross month there are a number of activities and volunteer opportunities someone could participate in. The most well known activity is donating blood at a blood drive. During the month of March, there are numerous opportunities to go and donate blood. There are different types of blood drives someone can participate in. 

The most well known type of blood drive is the Whole Blood Drive. This drive is when someone would go and donate blood for an hour no matter the blood type. This type of drive can help anyone due to the drive itself being extremely flexible. The blood donated can be separated into red blood cells, plasma, and platelets. 

A Power Red Blood donation is similar to a Whole Blood drive but instead of being able to donate the individual components of the blood, the drive only takes the red blood cells. The donations would be given to an individual who needs blood transfusions as part of their care. For this drive it would take an hour and a half and only people with O positive, O negative, A negative, and B negative blood are able to donate. 

Another drive is the Platelet Donation, which is used to help cancer patients. During the Platelet Donation, an apheresis machine separates the palettes and some plasma from someone’s blood while returning their red blood cells back to them. If someone were to donate their platelet it creates multiple transferable units, whereas it would take up to five whole blood donations to create a single transferable unit of platelets. For this donation, it would take up to three hours and the ideal blood types are A positive, A negative, B positive, O positive, AB positive, and AB negative. 

The last drive someone would participate in would be a Plasma Donation. Plasma donations are special because they can only be done by individuals who have AB blood. During a plasma donation, it is collected through an automated process that separates plasma from the other blood components. Plasma donations help people who are in emergency rooms and it is used in trauma situations in order to stop bleeding. It takes an hour and fifteen minutes to donate, which makes it a little longer than a normal whole blood donation. 

Partaking in a blood drive is just one of the many ways to donate and show support for the organization. Someone could donate 10 cents the next time they’re at their local grocery store. Even if people decided to not donate it’s still important to recognize the organization for all the good they do to help others, and the world around them.