Today I decided to start giving back to the Community Blood Center. Paul received platelets 30 times in 65 days. He received blood transfusions 14 times in the same time period. He was literally kept alive by the generous contributions of many people. Donating locally is easy. Look up Community Blood Center, enter your zip code for a location close to you, and make an appointment. Most locations are open seven days a week.  I’m guessing that I haven’t donated for about 40 years, so I was not in their system. Donating platelets takes about 2.5 hours. Donating blood takes about 30 minutes. Because I haven’t donated recently, they didn’t have my blood type. Also anyone who has had a pregnancy in the past has to be HLA (human leukocyte antigen) tested in order to donate. You’d have to look that up. I can’t explain it. I “think” that it is to make sure that your blood will not cause any negative issues for the recipient. At any rate, even though I’d made my appointment to donate platelets, I ended up donating blood. They will check my HLA status and blood type so that I can hopefully donate platelets in the future. Platelets can be donated 24 times in one year. Blood can be donated every 56 days. You have to be younger than 75 to donate.