Platelets

[ellid]

I'll be doing my first platelet donation at Baystate Medical Center on St. Patrick's Day at 6:00 pm. The donation coordinator at Baystate told me that CMV negative platelets are "like gold" because they're the only ones that can be used for infants and people with compromised immune systems, like patients with cancer and AIDS. Given this, I'm going to see about setting up a schedule for every two or three weeks in the evening because, y'know, it's just the right thing to do.

Comments

[tena524.livejournal.com]

I don't think it will be quite that often. A regular blood donation can be done every 8 weeks up to a max of 6 per year. I think the timing for platelets is every 16 weeks.
I'm O neg, so the local Red Cross donor center calls me every 8 weeks.

Ironically, we had a blood drive at school yesterday, and I couldn't donate because it was four weeks off my schedule...

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Nope, it's more like every sixteen *days*. You're allowed donate platelets 24 times a year, whole blood every two months.