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By Joel Frady
Facing an increased demand for blood, local chapters of the
American Red Cross have used recent law
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changes to lower the required donor age by a year. Previously,
donors had to be at least 17 years old in order to donate, but
new regulations will allow 16-year-olds to donate as well.
According to Ashley Mills, a senior donor recruitment representative
for the Red Cross in Ashe and Surry counties, the recent drop
occurred after a bill was passed by the State Legislature in
2007.
House Bill 1372, which was signed by Governor Mike Easley in
August 2007, stated that "the decision to have the heart
symbol on one's drivers license is legally sufficient consent
to organ donation."
"Before, you had to find next-of-kin, and if they didn't
consent to it then that person couldn't be an organ donor,"
said Mills. "Now, that little heart is considered first-person
consent."
Mills noted that the law allows 15-year-olds to donate organs
or blood based on the new legislation, but the minimum age for
Red Cross is 16, and 16-year-olds have to get signed parental
consent forms in order to donate blood. She said that the new
rules have been in effect since September, and youth in Durham
and Winston-Salem have donated blood.
"We've not had any more negative reaction given than any
other age group," said Mills. "It's worked out really,
really well."
Jim Taylor, a Red Cross volunteer in Ashe County, thinks the
move could also have positive long-term effects.
"It is certainly going to be a big improvement in the amount
of blood that we can get," he said. "And getting new
donors started at an earlier age - a lot of them are going to
continue on and on. High school blood mobiles develop lots of
regular, routine donors. This will add a good number to that
list." He noted that the Red Cross can also start educating
people about the importance of donating blood at earlier ages.
"It's going to help us increase collection and hopefully
make up for some of the industries that we're losing, bringing
a new age group into the fold," added Mills. "Hopefully,
it's going to be a really good positive thing for us."
With several area blood drives scheduled during the next few
weeks, Mills hopes that the new rules can help boost donations
during the holidays.
"Going into Christmas, the need always goes up," she
said. "You have more people travel, and you've got people
not thinking about donating. They're thinking about getting
that last Christmas present or making sure they leave in time
to miss traffic. More travel means more accidents, so the demand
usually goes up while donations go down.
"It's always good when we can increase donations during
Christmas especially, or during the summer time," she continued.
"That's where we always have our main focuses."
Local youth will get their first chance to donate blood during
the first annual Paul Jones Memorial red Cross Blood Drive on
Saturday, Dec. 27, at Calvary Free Will Baptist Church from
8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The event is being held to honor Jones,
who donated 123 units of blood during his lifetime. The church
is located at 3019 Old Wilkesboro Road in Glendale Springs.
The Red Cross is also holding blood drives on Tuesday, Dec.
20, from 3 to 7:30 p.m. at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, located
at 239 Champion mount Pleasant Road in Wilkesboro; and on Wednesday,
Dec. 31, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Walmart in West Jefferson.
To find out about upcoming blood drives, click to www.wilkesredcross.org.
To find out more about the new age restrictions, or to download
a parental consent form, click to http://web.redcrossblood.org/portal/NC/16yearolddonors.html.
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