Carol Yeatts, her grandson Caleb, and husband Steve.
Carol Yeatts has donated platelets and blood since her college years at Emory University. In recent years, Carol donates platelets as much as possible. As an O+ blood type, she realizes the important responsibility she has as a universal donor.
“I donate because platelets have a shorter shelf-life than blood and because they are especially needed for chemo-patients,” says Yeatts.
A single platelet donation can provide enough platelets for a full therapeutic dose for a patient in need. In fact, some platelet donations yield enough platelets for two or three therapeutic doses. By contrast, it takes four-to-six whole blood donations to produce a single therapeutic dose. In this way, Yeatts is helping to save lives every time she donates platelets!
Are you thinking about donating platelets?
Here are some important facts to know before you donate platelets:
· Platelet donations are collected at select American Red Cross Blood Donation Centers only.
· Donors should not take any aspirin or products containing aspirin 48 hours before donation. State regulations in New York require up to 3 days prior.
· You can donate up to 24 times per year.
· Plasma can be collected simultaneously with a platelet donation. Plasma can be collected every 28 days up to 13 times per year.
· The donation takes approximately 1.5 to 2 hours and may be a single or dual arm procedure depending on the collection device used.
· Call 1-800-RED-CROSS for platelet donation opportunities at a local American Red Cross Blood Donation Center near you.
· The Athens, Ga. location is located at 3525 Atlanta Hwy in the Academy Sports shopping center, and the office phone number is 706-543-8656.
· To pass the time while you donate, you may listen to music or simply relax during the donation process. Most American Red Cross Donation Centers also offer TVs or DVD players. Wi-Fi is also available at some locations.
· If you are a platelet donor, you can still make regular whole blood or double red cell donations. Both gifts are vitally important to patients with life threatening diseases.
· A platelet donation is also called a 'platelet apheresis' or 'platelet pheresis' donation.
Though the American Red Cross East Georgia Chapter doesn’t do blood or platelet donations at its Pulaski Street, Athens, Ga. location, we wanted to share some information about the platelet donation process to clear up any confusion!
To learn more about platelet donation, and listen to inspiring stories like Carol’s, watch the following video:
