Want to be a hero and potentially save someone's life in 15 minutes? It's possible and you can do it all while having a cup of tea. Donating blood only takes about 15 minutes and should you start donating regularly at 18 years of age, your lifetime of donations could save as many as 477 lives. Saturday, June 14 marks World Blood Donor Day and the Bermuda Red Cross Blood Donor Centre at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is appealing for new donors to sign up. Currently, there are less than 2,500 donors in Bermuda which equates to less than three percent of Bermuda's population.

Some may recall the famous Tony Hancock comedic sketch on blood donation which exclaimed "a pint? That's nearly an armful!", however, in reality it's not an armful and your body makes up the donated pint very quickly. And once you've donated you get to sit back, relax and enjoy a cup of tea, juice and a biscuit. It's that simple and you've just potentially saved a life!

As longtime donor Jack Ward joked with the Mid-Ocean News this week: "This is the only place I come to bleed voluntarily."

Mr. Ward has been giving blood for more years than he can recall and being a rare O negative blood type, is called up from time-to-time to donate in cases of emergency.

"The first time I did it I was travelling many years ago in Greece and I did it for the money," he jokes. "Now it's a selfless activity. It's something good you can do for someone who will never know."

To be eligible to donate, you must be between the ages of 18 to 70, weigh more than 50 kg and be in good health. Regular blood donors can continue donating up until the age of 70 and can donate up to three times a year.

Warwick Academy teacher, Paula Wight started donating blood while in university for the "free cookies and cute fraternity boys who worked there" and has donated ever since.

She says it's a quick and easy way to help someone, especially if you haven't got time to volunteer for other charitable organisations.

The Blood Donor Centre cannot accept donors who lived in the UK, Republic of Ireland or Europe for more than six months from 1980 to 1996 due to the potential exposure to the Mad Cow disease. So it's not always easy for Mrs. Wight to encourage staff to donate since most of them are from the UK, but this doesn't stop her from trying to get parents to donate, especially after Warwick Academy lost two students in traffic accidents earlier this year.

"It's so easy. You just have to go for it. Within an hour you are done so if you don't have time to do other volunteer work, this is the easiest way to help someone. Your blood goes toward helping someone else," she says.

Fifty-four year old Shirley Higgs started donating blood at 15 years of age in Canada and according to staff at the Blood Donor Centre, Mrs. Higgs has donated more than 100 pints of blood over the years. Mrs. Higgs recalls that her decision to start donating was based very much on the fact that her father, a farmer, lost his arm in a farming accident. Within hours farmers from across the area were called in to donate blood.

"I can't recall whether there was no blood available at the time, or whether farmers were called to donate to replenish the available stock, but my father wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for those blood donations," she says.

Each donation of blood can be broken down into three very useful component parts: red cells, plasma and platelets.

Red cells can be used to treat anemia, plasma can be used to treat burns and platelets, which prevent bruising and bleeding, can be used with cancer and leukaemia patients. Therefore, one donation could potentially help up to three people.

Mrs. Higgs also participates in another type of blood donation that focuses solely on obtaining platelets. It's a longer process that can take up to an hour in which platelets are collected through a process called apheresis that allows a single donor to give as many as two complete platelet units.

Keith Cassiey retired from the Bermuda Police Service nine years ago, but while serving on the force became a regular blood donor. Because he also has the rare O negative blood type, he is also a platelet donor and is called up from occasionally to donate.

The Mid-Ocean News caught up with Mr. Cassiey at KEMH where he was connected to the hospital's only apheresis machine and being assisted by pathology nurse, Sue deVerteuil.

Ms deVerteuil explains that platelets and red blood cells are vital to chemotherapy patients who would need platelets once a week. She says these donations take place twice a week because platelets only last a week, while blood lasts up to 42 days and plasma can be frozen so its life span is indefinite.

"Because the platelets are used constantly we always need them," she adds. "We rarely ship in blood unless we have too, but all blood types are needed in Bermuda, not just the rare ones."

Clinics take place three times a week at KEMH on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 9:15 a.m. until noon and all day on Thursdays.

If you have 15 minutes to spare and wouldn't mind a nice cup of tea and a biscuit, why not sign up to become a blood donor. You can call 236-6067 for more information or to schedule an appointment.