Imagine your father has just suffered a heart attack and must undergo open heart surgery in order to repair the damage.

Imagine your sister-in-law's baby was born with a congenital heart defect and required daily transfusions of blood in order to have a cance at survival.

Imagine your best friend's daughter has just been diagnosed with leukemia, a disease requiring regular transfusions of platelets.

Do these sound like isolated situations? They're not as remote as you may believe. Figures indicate that, by age 65, approximately 97% of the population will require a transfusion of blood or blood products. If any of these or similar tragedies have happened to you, your family or your friends, you may have become aware of just how important it is to have an adequate suply of blood... our precious natural resource. Blood can help restore an individual's health or save a life in an emergency situation.

Some individuals requiring blood are surgical patients, burn victims, accident victims, anemic, hemophiliacs, seriously ill babies, and persons suffering from leukemia, cancer, kidney disease and liver disease.

The American Red Cross relies on volunteer donors in the community to ensure that there is enough blood available to meet every hospitals' demand. Because of these dedicated donors, the community never has to worry where the blood will come from during a time of dire need. Many families will need blood at some point in time. It is the volunteer donor who makes sure that vital blood is there when it is needed.

In an effort to meet the total blood needs of the 41 hospitals served by the American Red Cross' Northeastern Pennsylvania Region and its 27 local chapters, more than 325 units of blood must be collected each day.

American Red Cross blood is never sold because it comes from volunteer donors. The American Red Cross Center does charge a processing fee to hospitals to partially cover the Red Cross' costs of collecting, testing, storing, and distributing blood and blood products.

An administrative fee is sometimes charged by the hospital (over which the Red Cross has no control) and appears on the patient's bill. This fee is for the hospital's costs incurred in labratory services which assure all patients that they are receiving the safest blood possible. These fees are covered by most health insurance plans.

Replacement of blood is never required, but the American Red Cross encourages patients, their families, and friends to tonate blood as a community service so that it will be available for others who need it.

Anyone who is at least 17 years old, weighs at least 105 pounds and is in good general health can donate blood. A confidential health-history and mini-physical further determines a donor's eligibility.

Donating blood is relatively painless, and the actual process usually takes only six to eight minutes. After you register, a nurse takes a drop of blood from your earlobe to test whether your hemoglobin (iron content) is sufficient for blood donation.

Then, your temperature, pulse, and blood pressure are checked, and a series of health history questions are asked to determin whether it is safe for you to donate and to ensure that your blood is safe for the receipient.

Less than on pint of blood is taken during a donation. Since your body has about 10-12 pitns, you are sharing only your reserve unit. Your body will. replace the fluid portion of the blood within 24 hours and the red blood cells within ten days to two weeks. Donors may give blood every 56 days. It's safe, simple and most importantly... IT SAVES LIVES!