Donate in more ways than one- Donate4Life

Here at Donor Date Australia we support anything that aims to save lives, which is why we encourage donor donations in any way possible. Whether that be by blood, plasma cells or even organs!

Donor Date Australia would like to offer their support and alliance to Donate4Life, a student initiated campaign that aims to raise awareness about organ donation in NSW.  Like blood donation, we feel that this is an extremely important cause, which shares a lot of similarities with our campaign. Everyone of us has the potential to donate organs, just as they have the potential to donate blood, so it is our hope that people realize the good this potential can do. Some people need new organs because of various illnesses and accidents, just like some people need more blood. If you had the potential to help some lives out, wouldn’t you donate your organs after you died?

Donor Date Australia says we certainly would! because you never know if you could be in that situation of need or experience it with someone close to you.  As Donate4life says “” it’s never too late to change someone’s life, or in this case, save it.”

Please show your support for Donate4life by following their various pages below:

– http://donate4lifensw.wordpress.com/about/

–https://www.facebook.com/donate4lifeNSW?ref=ts&fref=ts 

–@donate4lifeNSW 

On the defence: blood donation challenge

Every year the Australian Defence Force holds a blood donation challenge to personnel from the Army, Navy, Airforce and those who work in the Defence Public Services. This challenge runs for 14 weeks, from the 1^st of September until the 30^th of November. Their aim is to by defence sector, make the greatest number of blood donations.

Critical injury is no doubt prevalent when in a war zone. These heroes stand up and fight to defend our country, we owe it to these men and women to stand up and donate so we too can do our part and protect them.

If you want to help, you’re invited! Those who are not in the army have the opportunity to help those who help defend us, by donating yourself and having your blood donation count towards the sector of your choice.

Private Nathan Whittington was a soldier in the Australian army who lost his leg in a boating accident. He has was asked to be the Australian Army blood Ambassador for this years Army challenge.

“After my accident I knew I could move forward because I had the support of the Army, my mates and my family.

“I was fortunate enough to not need blood and the doctors had blood there, ready, on standby, to support me if I needed it.”

(Defence.gov.au, 2012)

The aim of this challenge is to support one another and encourage people to donate. Because one day YOU may need blood, a FAMILY MEMBER may need blood, or even one of your MATES!

Lets help our mate, take a donor date and FIGHT to save lives.

Defence.gov.au (2012) “Army’s blood donation drive begins”, Australian Government: Department of Defence, 13 Sept 2012.
http://www.defence.gov.au/special_events/blood_challenge/news/sep/0913f.htm

Meeting the donor

Could you ever imagine if you met your blood donor or your blood donor recipient? What would you say or do or  how would you react? Now typically both donors and recipients never meet. The act is usually entirely anonymous, for the most part anyway. But what happens when a person meets their donors?

Meet single mom Alta Ray, a blood donor recipient who did just that and met 11 of her blood donors who helped save her life after being diagnosed with a rare strain of leukemia. The disease, leaving her in a life threatening position, could have been taken if it wasn’t for the selfless act of a few dozen individuals. 17 to be exact, it took 17 donors and 93 blood transfusions to help her live, and after receiving such a gift, naturally Alta couldn’t of been more grateful and wanted to thank those who helped her live.

So she did just that. In a very rare opportunity arranged by the UCLA medical center, Alta was able to meet and thank 11 of the donors who helped saved her life. “I’m so grateful, so honored to be here, to be able to look you in the eye and thank you for my life”, said Alta. The rare opportunity helped put a face to the anonymous process of blood donation, and not only highlighted the human act of blood donation, but reveals how real and necessary blood donation is, especially when you can witness the life you saved. And even if you don’t  the knowledge that you’ve helped someone in need is knowledge enough.

Click here to read more story’s on donor recipients meeting their donors: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36147225/ns/today-today_news/t/woman-meets-her-blood-donors/#.UGwXWU3Mi8A  

Donate Blood- Save a Life!

Here at Donor Date Australia we love any excuse to promote blood donation, which is why we love this motivational video made by students from Griffith University!

Like there’s, our mission is to raise awareness and encourage the community to donate blood, to help those in need through an act majority of us are capable of. Here at Donor Date Australia we believe that you don’t have to be a superhero to save lives, you just have to have blood! It doesn’t cost you anything, only a little time…a little time which can make all the difference to a persons life.

Watch this motivational video made by the lovely students at Griffith university and join in the Donor Date Australia mission and give blood!

 

 

 

Blood could make all the difference.

Will you share your blood and make that difference?

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses…

We all know the feeling of chaos and limited time. Whether it is working to a deadline, family and friend obligations, relationship qualms or even the mere fact you don’t have an umbrella and getting completely saturated is the last thing you want to be doing. Life is chaotic but it is still life! Excuses are easy, life isn’t! Blood donation gives the ability for people to keep living life! One hour of your week is a small price to pay.

“Stop giving excuses, Start giving life”.

Iron Man, Iron Woman!!!

Iron deficiency is the most common deficiency in the world. This can be a problem for blood donation due to the fact you can be turned away from donating blood if your count is too low. 10% of people who attempt to donate are delivered the unexpected news that their iron count is too low. There are many reasons why you may have an iron deficiency, but it is a problem you can prevent and fix.

“Iron is important for our bodies because it converts food into energy, transports oxygen around the body and helps fight infection.” (Burrell, 2008)

Warning signs of having an iron deficiency can include fatigue, weakness, pale skin, chest pain, dizziness, irritability, numbness or coldness in your hands and feet, trouble breathing, a fast heartbeat, and headaches. If you experience any of these symptoms regularly you should go and see your doctor and get tested.

You want to get on top of iron depletion as it can result in “anaemia- which can take up to a year to recover from using supplements. Symptoms of anaemia include weakness, headaches and heart palpitations.” (Burrell, 2008)

Diet choices are what we need to look at to prevent iron depletion. Below are some suggestions on what can cause iron deficiency. If concerned go to your local practitioner and they can give you further dietary advice.

Women:

•  Generally need twice as much iron in their diet as men

Men:

•  If iron deficient it is usually related to a medical problem

Adult:

• Need lean red meat every second day.

Vegetarians:

• Should eat iron enriched foods such as fortified breakfast cereals and soy products everyday in order to function optimally.

An alternate option is iron supplements, or “you can go the extra mile and increase the absorption of iron in your body by combining iron rich foods with Vitamin C rich foods such as citrus fruit, tomatoes and other red and yellow fruits and vegetables.” (Burrell, 2008)

Below is a table giving an indication of how much iron you are consuming in your food!

Iron in food	mg iron
200g beef steak	7
1 cup beef mince	5
1 chicken breast fillet	2
1 fish fillet	1
1/2 cup baked beans	2.2
2 slices grain bread	2
Breakfast cereal with iron	3
6 oysters	3.5
1/2 cup Spinach	0.6

Daily iron requirements	mg iron
Babies (7-12 months)	11
Children 1-3 years	9
Children 4-8 years	10
Children 9-13 years	8
Boys 14-18 years	11
Girls 14-18 years	15
Men 18+ years	8
Women 18-50 years	18
Women 50+	8
Pregnant women	27
Breastfeeding women	9

Source:

To read more on iron deficiency please check out Susie Burrell’s article: http://www.taste.com.au/news+features/articles/1184/iron+out+tiredness

100% self motived with a desire to inspire

Giovanni Testini is a true inspiration! A 100 % self motived blood donor, Testini tries to donate blood as often as possible. His initial initiative in donating blood was to chase the feel good factor of doing something good for the community and to see what the act of giving blood would be like. After his prior work place gave its employees the convenience and encouragement of having Red Cross trucks come to the office, giving blood became a constant philanthropic act. When asked why Giovanni thought it was important to give blood he responded;

To help others who are in critical need of blood. 1 in 3 people need blood, thats 7,000,000 Australians

Testini when asked why he thought Australia had a blood shortage he responded;

Simple, not enough people donate 1 in 30 odd people donate, and can only re donate every 3 months. That means only 700,000 people donate out of the 21 Million people in Australia. That’s a measly 3.3% of our population. If every one of those 700,000 donated every 3 months that would equate to 175,000 units of blood a year! Not enough.

Testini has the desire to inspire and the mentality of WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? in his words “A bit of blood DW you will have all back very soon. It doesn’t hurt a bit.”

When asked what his personal incentives were Testini answered, “Self Satisfaction, sounds selfish but if helps, why not.”

What we should all be asking ourselves is WHY NOT!!!! 

Need increases, blood decreases!

The Australian Red Cross in June appealed to the public stating that they have been “on a downward donation trend since February”. (Australian Red Cross, 2012) They stated that they had “27,000 fewer appointments than needed” (Australian Red Cross, 2012) for the months of  February to May.

What we forget is that the number of people needing blood stays constant, and with the winter months taking regular donors out of action with colds and flus we need others to step in and fill their spots.

It is amazing if you have donated before, but please make a commitment to your fellow Australians and help out your neighbour. In the long run, this may benefit you in a case of an emergency.

Statistically, “one in three people will need blood in their lifetime, but only one in 30 Australians donate. Right now we are all relying on too few Australians to keep the blood supplies flowing.” (Australian Red Cross, 2012)

What people don’t realise is that donated blood assists in many situations whether surgery, for pregnant women, unborn babies and/or cancer patients.

Please Help!!!

Bring a mate for a #DonorDate!

We want to instil the desire to inspire your fellow mates to donate!!!

Check out:

http://www.redcross.org.au/less-than-3-days-supply-of-blood.aspx?source=

Australian Red Cross, 2012. “Less than 3 days supply”, Australian Red Cross. 22 June 2012.

Donate for someone like Rebecca

What were you doing at 13?

At just 13, Rebecca was a normal kid until she was diagnosed with Leukemia. At an age were i’m sure most of you were hanging out with your friends, enjoying being young, Rebecca  was hospitalized and was going through invasive medical care. She lost her hair, she drastically lost weight and dropped out of school

After receiving 72 blood and platelet donors, she began to recover and eventually won her battle against leukemia.

Rebecca is now 18 and is a regular blood donor.

Blood donations saved her life.