By Maria Carter
Kansas City, MO – Missouri will join ten other states, including Kansas, allowing 16-year olds to donate blood with permission from a parent. Currently, a person must be at least 17 to donate blood. Jay Menitove, executive director of the Community Blood Center, says in Kansas City 10 to 15 percent of blood donations already come from high school students.
Jay Menitove: If we increase, what we think will occur, it'll be about a 30 percent increase in blood donations at high schools. That will translate overall to about a weeks worth of blood supply for the patients in Missouri and in Kansas.
Menitove says he hopes that by getting more teens involved in blood drives young that it will become a lifelong habit. All donors have to meet certain criteria including general good health and a weight of at least 110 pounds.