DONATING BLOOD

Pints of blood wait in cold storage. The mostneeded blood types are O and A. How: Call the Lee Memorial Blood Centers at (239) 334-5333.

Who can give? You must be at least 16, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in generally good health. The Lee Memorial Blood Centers, which was created to supply Lee Memorial hospitals, is giving free diagnostics on donated blood plus gifts and T-shirts.

Preparation: Before giving blood, get a good night's sleep and eat a wellbalanced, nutritious meal. Try to eat iron-rich foods such as red meat, fish, poultry or liver, beans, iron-fortified cereals, raisins and prunes. Also, drink plenty of fluids in the 48 hours before donating.

Universal donors and recipients

Each donated unit of blood is separated into components such as red blood cells, plasma and platelets that can be transfused to different people with different needs. So each donation can be used to help save as many as three lives.

While all blood types are needed, the most common are O and A. Almost half (47 percent) of African-Americans and 53 percent of Hispanics have blood type O-positive. Thirtyseven percent of Caucasians have O-positive blood and 33 percent have A-positive.