Each year, more than 5 million people require blood transfusions due to illness, surgery or serious injury. There is no manufactured alternative to human blood so the blood collected from donors is the only supply available to patients in need,...
By Kristin Stankus, digital community and social media specialist As early as the 17th century, blood has been used as a therapy for a variety of ailments. Over the years, there have been many great advances and it is no...
I know what you’re thinking, it’s 2016 you want to lose 10 pounds or maybe quit smoking-again. Maybe you are looking to support a charitable cause. Good will can come in many forms but people often forget about the one...
When most people think about making an appointment at Stanford Blood Center (SBC), they think of coming in to donate whole blood, the most common type of donation. Less common, but needed just as much, is platelet donation through apheresis...
You: Kind eyes, huge heart, and friendly smile, wearing a red t-shirt, with awesome hemoglobin counts. You rode here on the Marguerite. Even though it was your first time saving lives with us, you were a natural … and we...
No one wants to be sick, especially with seasonal influenza (the “flu”). That achy, feverish feeling that keeps you in bed for a week is no fun. In addition to making people feel icky, the flu also has a significant...
Summer shortages affect blood centers around the world, but blood centers in the predominantly Muslim world face an even greater challenge during Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, introspection and prayer. Ramadan, which literally means scorching in Arabic, is...
The Bay Area has incredibly generous high school kids: A whopping 15 percent of Stanford Blood Center’s blood donations come from students—and 90-95 percent are high school students participating in mobile blood drives. When all those caring kids go on...
Did you know that if you travel to a malarial risk zone, you might be deferred from donating blood even if you aren’t ill? That’s because donors can be infected and symptom free and still transmit malaria through a blood...
Spring-cleaning, that wonderful time of year when the cold of winter transitions to warmer weather and people across the world clean their homes from top to bottom. This is often the time of year where the serious cleaning and...