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Campus Blood Donor Center
The Campus Blood Donor Center at University of California, Irvine represents a life-giving link between the UC Irvine campus and the UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange.

Annually, patients at UC Irvine Medical Center require more than 11,000 units of red blood cells and more than 3,500 units of platelets. Lives are saved and modern healthcare is made possible through your donations.

For trauma patients who have lost a significant portion of their blood volume, blood and blood products become a lifesaving component of their care.

Other patients, such as those with leukemia, may be unable to produce adequate levels of their own blood components. Chemotherapy, through its effects on bone marrow, can also lead to insufficient production of red cells and platelets.

Platelets are “first responders” to blood vessel injury. Having too few platelets, or being on medications that impair platelet function, can result in or worsen bleeding.

Through your blood and platelet donations at our center, you will in essence become a critical member of the healthcare team.

About the Blood Donation Process
The blood donation process is aimed at optimizing not only the safety of the recipient, but of the donor as well.

All prospective donors are screened using the standard Donor History Questionnaire (DHQ) and a of an assessment of vital signs and pulse.

Eligible donors undergo blood collection. Our phlebotomists are highly skilled and will make every effort to ensure the process is comfortable and safe. The needles used are sterile, used only once and then disposed.

Actual blood collection takes between 5 and 10 minutes for whole blood and up to 90 minutes for apheresis platelet collection. Following donation, we ask that you remain with us for 15 minutes and to enjoy some refreshments.

Location
The Campus Donor Center is located in the Student Center in room B106, downstairs from Starbucks and the bookstore and inside the Courtyard Study Lounge. The main entrance for the Campus Donor Center is immediately behind the reception desk in the Courtyard Study Lounge.

Hours
The Campus Donor Center is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays; and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Fridays.

Parking
Parking is available for community-based donors at the SCPS Parking Structure, located at the intersection of Pereira Road and West Peltason. The Blood Donor Center will cover parking expenses for each blood or platelet donation visit.

Who Can Donate?
To donate blood, you must:

• Be 17 years of age or older and weigh more than 110 pounds
• Have a valid photo ID (driver’s license, passport, employee or student ID are acceptable)
• Be in good health
• Eat a healthy meal and drink plenty of fluids prior to donation
• Finish all antibiotics prior to your donation and be symptom-free from any infection or illness

All prospective donors will complete a donor history questionnaire and blood work each time they donate. Donors who meet the screening criteria following completion of the DHQ and who meet requirements based on a basic physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, temperature and hemoglobin level – will proceed to donate whole blood or apheresis platelets. Provided the subsequent laboratory testing is acceptable, the units will enter inventory for transfusion to patients at UC Irvine Medical Center.

Donors who have had tattoos within the last 12 months, who recently returned from malaria-endemic areas, have low hemoglobin levels or other risk factors may be deferred.

If you have any questions, contact us at 949.824.2662 or email ibleedblue@uci.edu.

Why Donate?
Donors donate for many reasons, but the most important reason is altruism. Your donation supports the care of another human being when they are at their most vulnerable state. Although we may give out a T-shirt or some other small incentive to make things fun, our ultimate beneficiaries are our patients, not ourselves.

Make an Appointment
There are three ways to make an appointment to donate blood or platelets:

• Fill out an online Appointment Request Form
• Call 949.824.2662
• Email ibleedblue@uci.edu.