Photo: 145th Airlift Wing

By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS    

In this season of giving, there is no greater present than the gift of life.

A blood donation is a simple, free and non-time-consuming way to make a difference – a philanthropist bequest of a self-replenished part of yourself that can ultimately result in saving the lives of up to three people.

And yet, in Mexico, altruistic blood donations are rare.

In fact, only about 5 percent of the nation’s blood supply comes from altruistic donations.

And while nearly 5,000 units of blood are transfused each day in Mexico, the majority of donors are family members and friends of patients.

In order to encourage more people to donate blood, the ABC Medical Center is launching a weeklong blood drive from Monday, Dec. 11, through Thursday, Dec. 14.

The entire process involves a preliminary questionnaire, a simple blood test, the donation conducted while the donor is lying down on a special donation bed supervised by qualified medical personnel, a light lunch and a final checkup.

According to ABC sources, all information provided in confidential, and most healthy people between the ages of 18 and 65 qualify as donors.

Pregnant and lactating women, people with cancer or who are severely underweight, people who have had surgery or more than one intimate partner within the last 12 months, people with sexually transmitted diseases and people taking certain medications such as anticoagulants are not candidates.

The ABC Medical Center has blood donation centers at both its Observatorio and Santa Fe campuses.

The blood donation center at the Observatorio campus is inside the basement the main building, located at Sur 136 No. 116 in Colonia Las Américas. It is open Monday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The blood donation center at the Santa Fe campus is on the first floor of the main building, located at Carlos Graef Fernández 154 in Colonia Tlaxcala Santa Fe in Cuajimalpa. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.