Become a Donor

Why Donate?

In Mississippi, hundreds of pints of blood are needed every day. That means: friends, your spouse, your children, your children’s friends, coworkers, fellow church or synagogue members, fellow teammates, even YOU are a probable recipient of the blood resources of Mississippi Blood Services. The fact is, with this kind of demand, every one of us knows someone, or will meet someone, who will need blood.

For example, a patient who has suffered injuries in an automobile accident requires an average of 50 units of blood. A cardiovascular surgery may require anywhere from 2 to 25 units of blood. A cancer patient will often require up to 8 units per week. When you donate blood you are giving someone a second chance.

Mississippi Blood Services offers a variety of donation opportunities. Please be sure to ask our professional staff what is the best type of donation for you.

How to Donate:

To find a location to donate near you, click here.

After you have made an appointment (walk-ins are always welcome too!) prepare your body by drinking plenty of fluids and eating a good meal before you donate.

To save time, you can fill our your donor history questionnaire before you arrive to donate. The questionnaire must be filled out on the day of your donation. To fill it out, click here. A QR code will be emailed to you to show a MBS staff member when you arrive.

After a brief mini-physical checking your hemoglobin and blood pressure you will be escorted to a donor bed to begin the donation process. The phlebotomist will swab your arm and insert a needle to begin the donation. The actual whole blood donation only takes about 10 minutes. After your donation, you will take a few minutes to enjoy snacks and drinks in our canteen area.

Want to donate but don't know        if you can?:

To donate blood you must be healthy and feeling well, be at least   110 lbs and at least 17 years old (or 16 with parental consent).

Reasons you might not be able to donate:

• If you have a fever, a cold, the flu or are generally not feeling well
• Diagnosed with Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C.
• If you have recently received a blood transfusion or had surgery you can temporarily be deferred from donating blood
• If you have been diagnosed with AIDS
• Travel to certain countries may temporarily prevent you from donating blood
• Pregnancy - there is a six week deferral period after delivery
• Click here to see a list of medications that would cause deferral
• For more specific eligibility information, you can call            601-981-3232

Reasons you might think you can't donate but are not reasons for deferral:

• Donors with well-established diabetes controlled by diet, oral medications and/or insulin therapy are eligible to donate
• Donors with controlled high blood pressure by diet, oral medications are eligible to donate
• If symptom free, there is no deferral period for the flu vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine, or pneumonia vaccine
• Tattoos are acceptable if they were applied at a licensed tattoo facility
• Cancer survivors are eligible to donate as long as it was not a blood cancer
• For more specific eligibility information, you can call            601-981-3232