More Than Just Donation: FAST Training As A Way To Give Back

We've teamed up with Discovery and Shark Week to help avoid frequent summer blood shortages. Join us: Get your heart pumping and give blood! 

Even though shark bites can cause bleeding, they are uncommon. You’re more likely to need a lifesaving blood transfusion than you are to be bitten by a shark. However, if you were to suffer a shark bite, you’d want blood immediately available for your treatment, wouldn’t you?

In addition to donating blood, you can be prepared for any unforeseen bleeding emergency with this downloadable guide.

American Red Cross experts offer a training program about First Aid for Severe Trauma™(FAST™).  FAST prepares you with skills that go beyond the basics and can help you recognize and stop a life-threatening bleeding emergency, help you to ensure safety and communicate effectively during the emergency, and teach you how to apply direct pressure and use a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding. While FAST is available for everyone, the course and digital materials are offered at no charge to high school students under the age of 19.

There have been many groundbreaking discoveries in medicine over the years, but there’s still no substitute for blood. Blood can’t be manufactured and can only come from donors like you. And, by either giving blood or putting to use the skills you gain from FAST™, your selfless choice to help others could be the very thing that saves someone’s life.