Blood Donations

You may donate even if you take any of the following medications:

• Acetaminophen (Tylenol).
• Allergy medication.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Advil, Ibuprofen, Motrin and Naprosyn.
• Birth control pills.
• Depression medication.
• Diet pills.
• Female hormone pills.
• Thyroid medication (assuming your condition is stable).

You must wait a certain amount of time to donate if you take any of the following medications including:

• Accutane. Wait four weeks after your last dose.
• Antibiotics. Wait seven days after infection. Some antibiotics for acne are okay.
• Aspirin. You can donate whole blood, but you cannot donate platelets for 48 hours.
• Oral or insulin diabetes medication: You can donate if your condition is stable.
• Propecia. Wait four weeks after your last dose.
• Proscar. Wait four weeks after your last dose.
• Soriatane (Acitretin): Wait three years after your last dose.

You cannot donate if you take:

• Tegison.

View full list of medication guidelines for blood donation. 

You may donate even if you have conditions including:

• Allergies (no infection).
• Asthma (no symptoms).
• Cold sore, fever blister or canker sore.
• Diabetes (if stable condition).
• Genital herpes (after lesions clear).
• Heart attack (one year after and no current symptoms or heart medication other than aspirin).
• Heart surgery (one year after coronary artery bypass graft surgery or angioplasty, with no current symptoms or heart medication other than aspirin).
• Hemochromatosis.
• Major/minor surgery (after healed and released from doctor's care).
• Pregnancy (six weeks after delivery).
• Stroke (one year after, if no physical restrictions and no medications).
• Chlamydia, genital warts (if treated).
• Gonorrhea, syphilis and other venereal diseases (one year after healed).

You cannot donate if you have conditions including:

• AIDS, or are at risk for AIDS.
• Blood disorders or bleeding tendencies.
• Brain or spinal surgery that required a transplant of brain covering (dura mater).
• Cancer. (People with basal cell or squamous cell skin cancers or keratosis can donate if the lesions have been removed and skin has healed.)
• Colds, fever, flu, sore throat, cough, respiratory infection or headache.
• Hepatitis or undiagnosed jaundice after age 10.
• Melanoma (must wait five years and obtain pathology approval).
• Positive hepatitis test.

Don't donate blood if you have ever tested positive for HIV or if:

• You have ever injected yourself with drugs not prescribed by a physician.
• You are a man and have had sexual contact with another man in the past three months.
• You have hemophilia or a blood clotting disorder and received clotting factor concentrates.

If you have recently received a vaccination, you must wait a certain amount of time before donating blood again, including:

• Polio, mumps, rubeola (a type of measles) and smallpox. Wait two weeks.
• Rubella (a type of measles). Wait four weeks.
• Tetanus, diphtheria, flu and hepatitis B. Wait one day (if no reaction).
• COVID-19 

• Body/ear piercing(s). You should wait three months, unless your piercing was performed with a:
  • Sterile, single-use, disposable skin-piercing needle.
  • Piercing gun.
  • Physician or nurse using a disposable needle and septic technique.
• Infection due to any type of dental work.
• Hepatitis exposure. There's a:
  • Permanent deferral if you were exposed to viral hepatitis at age 11 or older.
  • Permanent deferral if you have close contact (living in the same house), except if the person has asymptomatic hepatitis C.
  • Deferral for 12 months if you were exposed to hepatitis A or B, or symptomatic hepatitis C.
• Tattoo(s): You may need to wait three months, depending on the state where you live.

Your donation will directly supports our blood supply.

Thanks to the support of our donors, staff, partners and patients, our Blood Donor Center has been the "lifeblood" of our community for more than 30 years, helping to save countless lives.

Our mission remains the same: protecting lives by providing quality blood services and exceptional customer service. Our need for blood is greater than ever.

Healthy people are the only source of blood donations. Blood in liquid form has a lifespan of only 42 days, so we need donors regularly.

After each donation is made, the laboratory tests the blood for a variety of agents, including:

• Chagas disease (only the first donation.)
• Hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg).
• Hepatitis C virus antibody (anti -HCV).
• HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibody (anti-HIV-1 and HIV-2).
• HTLV-1 and HTLV-II antibody (anti-HTLV-1 and anti-HTLV-II).
• Serologic test for syphilis.
• Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAT) for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and West Nile Virus.

• Diagnoses associated with cancer, heart disease and gastrointestinal disease.
• Fractures and trauma.

• Anemia.
• Pregnancy.
• Bone and joint abnormalities.
• Lung, liver and kidney diseases.

• You cannot contract any disease by giving blood.
• All equipment is sterile and new.
• We screen all donors prior to donation, to ensure it is safe for you to donate and safe for a patient to receive your blood.

Our Blood Donor Center accepts only volunteer, unpaid blood donors, which is the safest source of human blood.

• Accident victims.
• Babies.
• Children and adults with acute burns or blood clot problems.
• Those with catastrophic diseases, such as leukemia and hemophilia.