Home

See below for blood donation requirements.

Thank you once again to RAY McMANUS for organizing Blood Drives for Children's Hospital.

On Monday May 18, 2009, the Knights of Columbus sponsored a blood drive for The Children’s Hospital.  When the blood is collected, has the potential to help four children, since their bodies are so much smaller than an adult is.   Thirty-nine people stopped to render themselves to donate.  We had a first time donor that was 17 years old, some that had seen the sign on the road and decided to stop and a lot that had signed up in advance so that we knew that they would be there.  The good news is that out of this we were able to collect thirty-one pints of blood for The Children’s Hospital.

Boston Children's Hospital Blood Drives 2008

25 October

The Children’s Hospital had a good number of candidates for blood donors on Saturday 25 October.  The event was held at the Knights of Columbus council home on East Main Street.  This location was chosen to coincide with the celebrations for Georgetown Days. 

Many curiosity viewerss stopped to see the beautiful van that the children’s Hospital has for the donations.  Surprisingly the van is a traveling factory capable of collecting up to 10 pints of blood per hour.  It is fully conditioned with two private interview rooms where the donors are screened in private prior to their donation of life saving blood.  Once cleared by the nurse screener they are escorted to their station and are saddle into a space age seat that is ergonomically designed for the utmost comfort and the easiest delivery. 

One of the candidates stated that it only took him five minutes to deliver his pint.  He was in and out of there!  The van was there from a scheduled 9 A.M. and departed at 2 P.M., the potential for this visit was 50 pints. 

We had a total of 35 volunteers, the screening process sometimes eliminates some people from temporarily donating due to low iron or other conditions – this is always the consideration for the donor and their health will not be knowingly compromised.  On this collection there were 28 pints of blood delivered which means that there is a potential for 112 children to be helped with the life saving blood.  Since each pint has the potential for 4 children. 

Our last blood drive was on 12 July wherein 28 pints were donated and on 8 April we collected 29.
Our desire is to continue to hold these blood drives with an anticipated date sometime at the start of the New Year.  Naturally we want to collect the most possible and to that end help the most children who need this life saving liquid.  I solicit your ideas and comments so that we can make this an even better event. 

Today at the Georgetown Days, Brother Jim Connolly suggested that a time later in the day would suit more people due to the soccer events and other things that the children are involved in.  We also talked about scheduling the Blood Drive on a Sunday, the planning possibilities and considerations are important to a successful event. 

Please let me know if you have any suggestions that you think may make this a better event.  I also am looking for someone to step forward and do the scheduling and placing of placards.  I fully intend to support whoever assumes this position for the next event, Mark Favazza, Paul McDonough and I have all been through it and it is neither difficult nor time consuming event.  You can be provided with form letters that you can generate on your own behalf, we will guide you at every step. - Ray McManus

BLOOD DONATION & VCJD:   

To give blood for transfusion to another person, you must be healthy, be at least 17 years old or 16 years old if allowed by state law. You must weigh at least 110 pounds, and not have donated whole blood in the last 8 weeks (56 days) or double red cells in the last 16 weeks (112 days). "Healthy" means that you feel well and can perform normal activities. If you have a chronic condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure, "healthy" also means that you are being treated and the condition is under control. A number of other criteria apply inclusive of exposure to communicable diseases such as variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (vCJD).  In some parts of the world, cattle can get an infectious, fatal brain disease called Mad Cow Disease. In these same locations, humans have started to get a new disease vCJD which is also a fatal brain disease. Scientists believe that vCJD is Mad Cow Disease that has somehow transferred to humans, possibly through the food chain. There is now evidence from a small number of case reports involving patients and laboratory animal studies that vCJD can be transmitted through transfusion. There is no test for vCJD in humans that could be used to screen blood donors and to protect the blood supply. This means that blood programs must take special precautions to keep vCJD out of the blood supply by avoiding collections from those who have been where this disease is found. At this time, the American Red Cross donor eligibility rules related to vCJD say you are not eligible to donate if:

• 1.       From 1 JAN 80, through 31 DEC 96, you spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 3 months or more, in the United Kingdom (UK), or from 1 JAN 80, to present, you had a blood transfusion in any country(ies) in the (UK). The UK includes the Channel Islands;  England; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar;  Isle of Man; Northern Ireland; Scotland; and  Wales.
• 2.       You were a member of the of the U.S. military, a civilian military employee, or a dependent of a member of the U.S. military who spent a total time of 6 months on or associated with a military base from 1980 through 1990 in Belgium, the Netherlands (Holland), or Germany. 
• 3.       You were a member of the of the U.S. military, a civilian military employee, or a dependent of a member of the U.S. military who spent a total time of 6 months on or associated with a military base from 1980 through 1996 in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy or Greece.
• 4.       You spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 5 years or more from 1 JAN 80, to present, in any combination of country(ies) in Europe, inclusive of:
• ·         The UK from 1980 through 1996 as listed in above.
• ·          On or associated with military bases as described above, and
• ·         The following countries in Europe: Albania,  Austria,  Belgium,  Bosnia/Herzegovina,  Bulgaria,  Croatia,  Czech Republic, Denmark,  Finland,  France,  Germany,  Greece,  Hungary,  Ireland (Republic of),  Italy,  Kosovo (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia),  Liechtenstein,  Luxembourg,  Macedonia,  Montenegro (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia),  Netherlands (Holland),  Norway,  Poland,  Portugal,  Romania,  Serbia (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia),  Slovak Republic (Slovakia),  Slovenia,  Spain,  Sweden,  Switzerland,  Turkey, and  Yugoslavia (Federal Republic includes Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia).

 [Source:  www.redcross.org/en/eligibility#vcjd2 Feb 09 ++]