Red4Life: Sickle Cell Program

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Sickle Cell Awareness Toolkit  Additional Resources

red4Life program

Any donor who selects African American and other ethnicities of African, Latin or South American decent; Asian and South Pacific Islanders in our screening questionnaire has the potential to join our Red4Life Sickle Cell Program. For those donors, our donor services team will collect an additional tube at their donation so that our reference lab can run additional tests to see if they are a match to help sickle cell patients. Then, you will receive communication from us that denotes that if you are a match.

If you qualify for our Red4Life Program, you will earn 800 BONUS POINTS* when you donate any procedure 4 times (or donate double red cells 3 times) in the same calendar year.

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Even if you are not a match for our Red4Life sickle cell program, your donations are still needed and you can earn points in many ways! Learn more about the Donor for Life Points Rewards Program

Questions? Give us a call at 800-747-5401 or email hello@impactlife.org.

Did you know?

• Sickle cell disease is the most common hereditary disorder and currently affects more than 100,000 Americans, predominantly people of African, Middle Eastern, Grecian, Indian, and Latin American descent. Reference
   
• Sickle cell disease is estimated to occur in 1 of every 365 black or African-American births and 1 out of every 16,300 Hispanic-American births. Reference
   
• Sickle cell disease causes the body to create abnormal hemoglobin and abnormally ‘sickle’ shaped red blood cells that causes pain and numerous health complication. 
   
• More than 100 million people worldwide have the sickle cell trait. They carry only one abnormal gene (unlike two with sickle cell disease) and typically live normal lives. Rarely, extreme conditions such as severe dehydration and high-intensity physical activity can lead to serious health issues, including sudden death, for individuals with sickle cell trait. Reference
   
• Although there is no cure for Sickle Cell Disease, blood transfusions are a critical part of treatment and can relieve the pain and complications that occur during a sickle cell crises. 
   
• Thalassemia is also inherited blood disorder caused when the body doesn’t make enough hemoglobin. It is a treatable disorder that can be well-managed with blood transfusions and chelation therapy. Reference

Additional Resources

• American Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation
• American Society of Hematology

• Caring for children with sickle cell disease webinar

• Center for Disease Control and Prevention 

  • What is Sickle Cell Disease?
  • Data & Statistics
• Sickle Cell Disease Association of America
  • Educational Materials & Resources
• Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario Webinars
• Sickle Cell Coalition
• SickCells Organization
• Minority Health
• My Sleeves Up
• National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
• Thalassemia (CDC)
• Thalassemia Foundation
• U.S. National Library of Medicine

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*Eligible for donations after 9/1/2021. If a Red4Life donor is also eligible to receive the Rapid Response Team donor bonus (800 points for 4 annual donations), they will only receive one (1) 800 point bonus once per year.