Published: July 06, 2008 01:17 am         

Easing donor limits may raise flow of blood

16-year-old may now donate blood

MANKATO — Ask Bob Meyer of the American Red Cross how important youth are to his Mankato-area blood donation numbers, and he’ll throw some numbers at you.

Like this one: Twenty percent of all the blood that comes to the Mankato office of the Red Cross comes from high school and college students.

And so on Tuesday, after a law went into effect that allows 16-year-olds to donate blood, Meyer likes to throw this number out: In Wisconsin, where similar legislation took effect in March, a total of 1,300 16-year-olds already have donated blood.

“That equates to a lot of blood,” Meyer says. “This is just an excellent move.”

Minnesota now joins a growing list of states making it easier for younger people to donate blood. The ball got rolling in Blooming Prairie, where a high school student named Joe Gibson was turned away while attempting to donate blood in his grandfather’s honor.

Instead of accepting that answer, Gibson instead decided to change the law.

After researching the law, he sought help from Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato, who authored a bill that would allow 16-year-olds — with a parent’s permission — to donate.

The bill enjoyed wide-ranging support and passed easily.

“It was not a controversial bill. We had no trouble at all getting this through,” Sheran said. “I thought it was logical. It’s one of those bills that makes you say, ‘We could have done this a long time ago.’”

Meyer says that about 38 percent of the public is eligible to donate blood. What about the other 62 percent? Anyone with a tattoo or body piercing is ineligible, people on certain types of medication, and people who have recently visited certain foreign countries are also ineligible.

“So, really, of the 38 percent who are eligible, just a fraction of those folks come in,” Meyer said. “This legislation can help increase the number of eligible donors, foster a commitment to blood donating and enhance our ability to meet a growing demand for blood.”

If the pool of donors is to be broadened, Meyer said, the younger end is a good place to do so.

“We have huge buy-in with our high schools and colleges,” he said. In addition to Mankato schools, the bloodmobile visits schools throughout the region including St. Peter, St. James and many other sites.

At one time, there used to be a cut off at age 70. Now that upper-age limit doesn’t exist.

The Mankato office of the American Red Cross has two blood drives coming up. The first is from noon to 6 p.m. July 10, and the other is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 11. Both are at the Red Cross, 101 Homestead Drive in Mankato.