Are you going to have an elective surgical procedure?
If so, you should ask your physician if the procedure might require you to receive blood. If so, depending on the type of surgery, you have a choice other than receiving blood from the community blood supply through the American Red Cross.

The procedure is referred to as autologous blood donation. Your blood may be collected and stored before a scheduled surgery. If the blood loss needs to be replenished during or after surgery, your blood that was collected previously and stored will then be given back to you through an autologous blood transfusion.

Who can donate their own blood?
Many patients can donate their own blood for themselves (even if they cannot donate to blood drives for other patients). You must be relatively healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds, and have blood pressure and pulse rate within normal, expected ranges. Your blood also has to test for hemoglobin and hematocrit in order to make an autologous blood donation.

What is the procedure?
The doctor must call the lab with an order, letting us know that you are scheduled for an autologous donation. The office will give us the date of your surgery and number of units they want collected. We will then call you to make an appointment to come in to donate. If more than one unit of blood needs to be collected, we try to collect one unit a week and have the donations complete one week prior to surgery so your blood count has a chance to adequately rebuild itself .

You should expect your appointment to take approximately one hour. When you come in for your appointment, we will be asking you some questions concerning your health. If you do not feel well the day of your appointment you should call the lab and discuss rescheduling the donation. If you have had heart disease, lung disease, or chest pain you may not be able to donate. The technologist evaluating you will explain to you completely the process and, if you are unable to donate, the reason why. After doing a preliminary history, the technologist with obtain a blood sample to make sure your blood count is adequate to donate. They will then take your blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. Once everything is checked, the technologist will proceed with drawing out a unit of blood for the donation.

What happens to the blood that is drawn from you?
The unit of blood that is obtained the day of the donation is saved for your use only. The unit is labeled with your name and "tagged" only for your use. The blood is stored in the blood bank refrigerator until the day of surgery and a few days after surgery (until you go home from the hospital). If the doctor orders blood for you during or after the surgery, we will release your blood to be given to you through a blood transfusion. If it is not necessary to give you a blood transfusion, the unit will be discarded.

Can I give a unit of blood to have on hand in case of an emergency?
This type of procedure cannot be used in emergency cases. The blood drawn is only good for approximately one month which does not allow for it to be used "just in case". In emergency situations very often you also may have need of other products which would not be available through autologous collections. Therefore, for any emergency needs the American Red Cross is used to obtain the products and blood needed.

ALL PATIENTS - PLEASE NOTE:
You must stop by Patient Registration / Admitting (on the main floor of the hospital, the first door to the left off the front lobby) before going to the Lab on the basement level.

Thank you for your cooperation.