By implementing the Donor Health History Questionnaire 4.0, we removed barriers to populations who want to give blood while maintaining safety protocols to protect blood donors and recipients.
Amber Grantham, Blood Donor Program donor relations specialistEmergency blood donations are in short supply nationwide, with donations among Americans currently at a 20-year low. Blood donation is critically important from people of all blood types, genders, ethnicities and regions to ensure that there is an adequate supply of blood is available to people undergoing treatment of serious illness and following medical emergencies. However, until recently, some members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their sexual partners were barred from donating based on outdated science.
On February 19, Dartmouth Health’s Blood Donor Program implemented the Food and Drug Administration’s updated guidelines for blood donation. This change eliminates questions based on sexual orientation and gender and moves to an individual donor assessment. Now, donation eligibility is based on the individual, not sexual orientation or gender identity, so a person’s choice of sexual partner will no longer matter.
“The FDA’s change in policy is based on science and facts. We have learned a lot in the 40+ years since the AIDS epidemic began, and we know now that prohibiting people who want to give blood based on their sexuality and identity is not only discriminatory, it’s unnecessary to stemming the spread of HIV, and only hurts patients who need blood,” said Amber Grantham, donor relations specialist with the Blood Donor Program. “By implementing the Donor Health History Questionnaire 4.0, we removed barriers to populations who want to give blood while maintaining safety protocols to protect blood donors and recipients.”
Blood collected by the Blood Donor Program stays within the Dartmouth Health system, benefiting patients in New Hampshire in Vermont. To learn more about the program and make an appointment to donate, visit https://donateblood.d-h.org/. For more information on Dartmouth Health’s updated blood donation policy, visit https://www.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/blood-donor-program.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital (Children’s Hospital at DHMC/CHaD) and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.