A Directed Blood Donation allows additional units of blood to be collected for the recipient, since the blood is collected from designated family and friends.

Limitations:

A Directed donation must be compatible with the recipient’s blood type and the donor must not be anemic.

There is no conclusive evidence to prove that blood from designated family and friend donors is safer than blood from other volunteer donors.

Eligibility:

The decision to participate in a blood donor program is also based on your eligibility to donate. Your current physical condition and medical history may exclude a donation, as well as a history of severe cardiac or liver problems. Age, weight, associated diseases such as hepatitis and recent surgical procedures also determine eligibility as a blood donor.

Step 1:

Directed donations require prescriptions from your physician.

The directed donation program requires that you call the Blood Center and give them the patient’s name, social security number, their blood type, hospital, date units are needed, number units requested, patient’s phone number and doctor’s name prior to sending in any donors. The first donor must bring a prescription from the attending physician with the above information and stating these are to be directed donations. It is a state regulation that we have a prescription in order to tag units for a specific patient. Therefore if we do not have the prescription, we cannot draw the units.