What to Expect When You Donate Blood
University of Colorado Hospital

Before Your Donate

  • Before you come in to donate, we recommend that you stay hydrated.
  • Drink plenty of fluids, and eat something 3-4 hours prior to donating. 
  • When you come in you will be asked to fill out a short health history form. 
  • After you have been cleared to donate you will be given a a mini-physical. The technician will check your temperature, hemoglobin (iron level), and blood pressure. Only sterile, single-use needles are used for donations.

After You Donate

  • When you are finished donating, we recommend that you stay for a few minutes and relax. You'll be offered juice and cookies. Please stay as long as you want, until you feel that you are okay to go! 
  • Make sure that you stay  hydrated for the remainder of the day by drinking plenty of fluids. Please avoid any rigorous physical activity such as heavy lifting or exercise.

Testing

  • At University of Colorado Hospital we want to maintain a clean and safe blood supply, and send samples of every unit donated to be tested. 
  • We test for Hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS, STD's and other infectious diseases. We also test for blood type. 
    It takes about three days to get the results back. 
    If you would like to know your blood type after donating we can let you know as soon as we receive your results; just make sure to notify the donor center staff during your donation .

Whole Blood Donations

We need whole blood donations on a regular basis. 
For each whole blood donation, we collect one pint of blood from you. After you are screened and cleared to donate, the actual donation time takes anywhere from 7-12 minutes. The unit of blood is then processed and separated into red cells and plasma.