platelets

Know the symptoms and risk-factors of blood cots

In order to protect both the donor and the recipient, each donation is screened for a range of disease markers

Dear Doctor: I just read your column about a daily aspirin regimen, which raised these questions for me: If someone appears to be in the middle of a heart attack, should you try to give them an aspirin? Also, does it pay to keep aspirin in the house just for [...]

Each year, the number of people in need of organ transplants continues to grow. About 118,000 people are still waiting for an organ, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and each day, 22 people die while waiting. Posthumous donation Those who register to have [...]

“I transport blood,” says Wyatt Jackson, who works to transport the blood donated at the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center at Ackerman Student Union to the UCLA Center for Health Sciences, where the blood is processed. “I grew up wanting to be in the medical profession, so it’s a [...]

UCLA patient Shirley Polk, 67, whose liver and kidney failed due to an acute autoimmune disease last summer, had the chance to meet the 59 strangers whose blood donations at the UCLA Blood & Platelet Center helped make her life-saving organ transplants possible. Her experience mirrors the diversity of Los [...]

"The first experience someone has determines whether they'll be a lifetime donor or if they won't do it again," says Delia Tejano, a registered nurse at the UCLA Ackerman Student Union Blood Donation Center. "So I take really good care of first-time donors. Every donor is important, and we [...]

With invitations to so many worthy medical causes and events, it becomes a difficult decision to figure out how to devote your time and energy.  But a colleague who was diagnosed with a blood cancer gave me a laser focus on an upcoming event. Like my treasured co-worker, [...]

Congratulations to Matthew Hoffman for celebrating his 50th-gallon donation at the UCLA Blood & Platelet Center. 50 gallons is an amazing accomplishment and the result of 400 donations. Matthew started out more than 20 years ago donating platelets as a directed donor and then became a regular platelet donor visiting [...]

“I come in every three or four weeks to donate blood,” says Christopher Garduno Luna, a neuroscience major at UCLA. “I’ve donated  blood and platelets. I know a lot of people don’t have time to stay for an hour (to donate platelets) or have a phobia of needles, but [...]