Bloodsucker

Letter from the BPA medical advisor (printed in Sports Parachutist 1992 and reprinted 2000) Personally, I don't jump within 72 hours of donation and then I don't exceed 5,000 feet for another week after that because I believe that it is my responsibility to ensure my safety. I've given blood since the age of 18 and haven't missed a donation even when I was serving with the Army and if I was faced with an ultimatum then much as I love skydiving I'd have to choose giving blood (my blood has been cleared for neonatal use and one donation provides 8 transfusion units for prem babies).

Pheresis donations are allowed including plasma and platelets but the problem is that pheresis donations tend to be taken at specialist donation centres (nearest one to me is about 1.5 hours away) as they don't take the machines mobile. Additionally, blood donations are purely voluntary in that donors don't get paid (unless you count the free tea and biscuits afterwards). I'm an O neg donor and atm the transfusion service for my part of the country only has 3 days supply on hand to cover the hospitals.

The fact is that in the UK blood donors have a haemoglobin test prior to donation every three months for men and every four months for women. In order to be accepted to give blood, the haemoglobin level has to be high enough so that the donor will not be anaemic after donation. Borderline cases are tested with a Hemocue monitoring unit. I sometimes wonder how many jumpers get on the plane anaemic and at risk of hypoxia because they're not getting tested on a regular basis.

Before anyone starts yelling "Troll" about this post and the fact that the profile isn't filled out, I'd just like to say that this subject is an emotive one in the UK and has lead to flame wars and general name calling against those of us that would like to see a change to the policy laid down in the BPA Ops Manual, namely: In effect this means that a blood donor has to choose between giving blood or skydiving. My question is: Does any other parachute federation in the world have such a draconian attitude towards blood donors? Or do they trust their members to act in a responsible manner? Given the attitude of some members of the UK forums (some of whom frequent these hallowed halls) I PM'd Sangiro and asked for permission to run this topic anonymously, which he graciously agreed to. The problem is that in order to get anything changed in the OPs Manual, we have to make a case to the STC which is comprised of all the CCI's. As I understand it, and if I'm wrong someone with far more experience will correct me, neither the USPA or the DFV have any regulation that would prevent a skydiver from giving blood. If anyone would care to share information about their own parachute federation/association's attitude and/or regulations, please feel free. Many thanks in advance.