I was awarded my 3 gallon award today for blood donations.
I am truly honored. I hope every blood donation I gave was able to help save a life. I always wonder about how the recipients are doing, and what circumstances led them to need a life saving blood transfusion. The blood bank keeps all of that private for security reasons, of course, along with the name of the donors who donate. I just hope it all helped.
You’re so welcome! If it isn’t too personal, and you don’t mind me asking, why do you not donate? Is it a health reason, or a religious reason? I’ve known people who were JW and couldn’t donate. If you’ve had cancer, you can donate after treatment ends. Sometimes people think they are eliminated for life after medical problems arise, but the blood bank is actually pretty relaxed in some of their requirements. They even allow people who have just had a tattoo to donate, as long as they had it done at a licensed tattoo shop.
I faint after (or sometimes while) giving blood. After a couple times they told me thanks for trying, but they don't want to have to deal with that again so please don't. I could probably do a half donation but they don't take those. I used to donate plasma without problem but there is no location to do that near where I live.
Also not the person who you responded to, but unfortunately I got turned down by the blood bank because my veins are relatively narrow and have a tendency to roll to the side when trying to poke them with a needle. They had so much trouble hitting a vein with a regular needle for the initial blood work that they told me that giving blood is simply never going to work.
Obligatory also not the person. I had a relative die from the Mad Cow prion. They say nobody in the family can donate, even though she likely contracted it at work, as a surgical nurse.
Nice! Was it for donating one gallon? You should have a one gallon license plate frame, too, if you did. If they forgot to give it to you, they’ll probably mail it to you.
I actually do have free healthcare. Or close to it. I have a free insurance plan because I’m so poor this year. The blood bank can’t pay its donors. They have to employ the people that draw blood and that costs money. The process of the blood transfusions are expensive to the recipients and they get billed for that. It would be nice if tax dollars could at least cover patient costs. I don’t mind donating for free if it saves a life.
Hell no. It's always made illegal to be paid for it, which has some ethical reasons, but also it ensures people can't bargain and keeps costs down. Average people are only allowed to get fucked by the system. They aren't allowed to benefit from it.
Wow. A person can only donate about 6 times per year, since whole blood is allowed every eight weeks. How old was the donor? I mean 33.333… years of donations, right, and that’s if he never missed a chance to donate. If he started donating in high school at age 16, then he would be about 49 to 50 years old, right?
It wouldn't have surprised me if he was in his early 60s.
One of the ways you can get your numbers higher is with platelet donation. A donation via plateletpheresis can occur every few weeks. They basically take blood out, process out the platelets and pass the blood back into you, which results in less of an impact to the donor vs a standard whole blood donation.
i get a certificate after every gallon but who gives a shit about that...one time i got a stick of bologna after a single blood donation, that was the best.
It’s given at 24 donations. There are eight pints to a gallon. So 3 gallons is 24 pints. I’m at 25 donations now.
The weird part is, I thought I had more donations than that. I asked them to check under my maiden name, too, and they said they did. I did miss two years while pregnant with each of my children, though. I guess it only adds up to 25 so far.
Do you always donate at the same place? When I received my one gallon pin, it was a complete surprise because i know that I had donated more than 1 gallon at that time. But I used to move a lot and would just pop into any random blood drive I saw anytime I was eligible to donate. I received the one gallon pin from one specific bloodbank that I've been going to for years now, and i just figure they dont know about the other places in different states. Since I'm anemic, the phlebotomists tell me to double my recovery time before donating again, so I can only donate 3 or 4 times a year, so it's taking a while for me to hit those milestones. I did get a postcard in the mail from the hospital affiliated w my bloodbank when my donation was used for a transfusion, which was pretty cool.
Congrats! I just checked my stats because of you. Ive had 15 donations sinch 2018, 12 of which were double donations. i guess i dont know where that puts me on volume. No awards for here, but the free gatorade and pretsels after are pretty good! More than adequate compensation in my opinion. Keep it up!
Good for you! Keep going with it! Ours doesn’t offer Gatorade. How odd. I find it funny that ours offers soda and coffee to donors, in addition to fruit juices and water. Coffee and soda dehydrate a person. It just seems so counterintuitive.
I need to start donating blood again, I have donated 27 times in my 36 years, but stopped during the pandemic as I lived a year on painkillers due to messed up feets and knee.
It has been two years since and while I am on high blood preassure meds, I feel fine to donate.
I hope you can donate again soon! The blood bank needs donors. You might want to ask them about your blood pressure medication first. It might be on the medication deferral list.
Oh yeah, there is a long list of questions about your recent medical, sexual and travel history and you are required to answer before you may donate blood.
I did travel to Spain back in March, so I'll have to check how long I need to wait...
No, there have been several cases in America where cadaver dogs have been used in rural areas to find dead bodies. They use them all the time to solve cold cases, and to locate bodies when a suspect finally confesses and says where the victim is buried.
I don’t care. Have you ever been in need of a blood transfusion and been told by a nurse that they don’t have one available in your blood type? I have. I almost died in 2012 from blood loss. I am lucky to be alive today. If some other O- donor would have just been there to help, or had donated a week or so before that day, it would have been an easier recovery. I donate because I know someone in a hospital needs my blood donation to survive. A human life is worth more than the few dollars the blood bank actually makes from my donation. Most of the money from the blood transfusion cost goes towards the medical procedure, the actual process of transporting it, and testing the blood to make sure it’s safe. The blood bank needs to keep operating. It’s not owned by some billionaire. I hope you never need a blood transfusion. It will make you change your priorities if you do.
It's still exploitation. They're making profit off your generosity. Loads of it. Personally I sell my blood. Still get to help the people in need, but at least it's a more honest transaction.
They have other awards, but a person needs to reach a higher level of donations to earn those awards. I didn’t think this one looked bad. I think it’s supposed to be an ocean wave encapsulated in a glass sphere. There is another one that looks like a red blood drop and a larger one that looks like a blue rain drop. The last one requires 100 donations, I think.