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blood donation

viztopia

I have donated blood a good few times - roughly 34 tiems and I am 34 years old. One thing that always strikes me is the poor quality of the refreshements that you get after giving blood. Nothing wrong with the service just the food snacks etc. First of all the sandwiches. You get one slice of bread with someething baic like ham or chese on a plate which is wrapped in cling film. Its like something you would get after working afor a day on the bog. Anif if you go late in the evenings there isnt a chance of getting one. And the snacks are always the same - tayto chese and onion, time outs and custard creams and the likes. Would it kill them to change the variety of food? Also i have spoken to a coupel of polish people who donate at hoem and they get loads of chocolate etc. We are not going for the chocolate of course but it would be nice to be appreciated. Has anyone else any opinions on this or have you ever donated abroad?

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Dravokivich

stormcloud wrote: »

Regarding refreshments and the like. I was told by a South Korean that they get free cinema tickets and vouchers for stores after donating. That would be nice to get here.

Regular donors are often given some sort of non-monetary recognition. In Italy, blood donors receive the donation day as a paid holiday from work.[92] Other incentives are sometimes added by employers, usually time off for the purposes of donating.[93] Blood centers will also sometimes add incentives such as assurances that donors would have priority during shortages, free T-shirts or other small trinkets (e.g., first aid kits, windshield scrapers, pens, etc.), or other programs such as prize drawings for donors and rewards for organizers of successful drives.[94] In Singapore, the Singapore Red Cross Society presents awards for voluntary donors who have made a certain number of donations under the Blood Donor Recruitment Programe: a "bronze award" for 25 donations, "silver award" for 50 donations, and so on

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_donation#Benefits_and_Incentives

I'd rather have the 3 extra days off a year. =]

CruelCoin

Never donated, but always wanted to.

I travel quite a bit, and as a result, am barred from donating.

I'm sorry, but i can't remember the last time i ever got sick, not one person in my family has any form of inheritable disease, we are all self employed and well educated, i eat well, and excercise on a regular basis.....I have grade A premo-delux blood.

Frankly, they should be fighting hand over fist to get a hold of my blood, but nope....Needs reforming.

ballsymchugh

CruelCoin wrote: »

Never donated, but always wanted to.

I travel quite a bit, and as a result, am barred from donating.

I'm sorry, but i can't remember the last time i ever got sick, not one person in my family has any form of inheritable disease, we are all self employed and well educated, i eat well, and excercise on a regular basis.....I have grade A premo-delux blood.

Frankly, they should be fighting hand over fist to get a hold of my blood, but nope....Needs reforming.

it was reformed a few years ago. before that they had to pay compensation because of the anti-d cases, and where infected blood was given to haemophiliacs. the easiest way to avoid that again, is to filter out anyone that may have tainted blood before they donate.
it may not be tainted to you, but to someone with a suppressed immune system it could wreak havoc.

Dravokivich

They put in those stipulations to minimise risk, not to personally exclude people from donating.

goldenhoarde

God be with the days of pelician house and the pints of guinness Still all in all a great thing to do. I'm on 60+ and the only thing i didn't like was the wee prick on the finger to test for iron.

Giving platlets now and the grub in St james there is always top notch!

ClareVisitor

I remember being given a can of beer when I donated when I was in college in Galway, it was over 20 years ago mind!

I always look for something out of the ordinary in the biscuit department when having something after my donation, they had ginger nuts last time, I hadn't had them in ages.

stupidusername

CruelCoin wrote: »

Never donated, but always wanted to.

I travel quite a bit, and as a result, am barred from donating.

I'm sorry, but i can't remember the last time i ever got sick, not one person in my family has any form of inheritable disease, we are all self employed and well educated, i eat well, and excercise on a regular basis.....I have grade A premo-delux blood.

Frankly, they should be fighting hand over fist to get a hold of my blood, but nope....Needs reforming.

I'm actually a little gobsmacked. What has being well educated and self employed got to do with anything? You realise it's not your genetics you're donating right?

nice_very

El Weirdo wrote: »

Pretty sure I got a glass of stout when I gave blood. No complaints from me.

do they still do that? if so I might start donating my precious blood again

Glico Man

LeeHoffmann wrote: »

I'm not allowed to donate blood (because I lived in England for a few years as a child).

Like myself. The reason I was given was because of Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow. Although the number of cases of vCJDin the United Kingdom is declining, in the absence of a screening test, the full extent of exposure is not known.

Since 2004, there have been a small number of reported cases of patients in the UK diagnosed with vCJD who have been infected through blood transfusion. Most countries exclude people from donating if they've lived in the UK for 6 months cumulative or more from 1980 - 1996.

And, because of the extensive time period covered by the deferral and the possibility of unknowing exposure to beef or beef products, it is not possible to exempt vegetarians who have resided in the UK for a cumulative period of six months or more during the risk years.

The King of Moo

For those wavering or who have been put off by complications giving blood before:

unfortunately there can be small problems like bruising from hitting an artery or numbness after donating, but by and large it's quick and painless.

If you do and they have trouble getting blood, try your other arm.

A lot of people have a big difference between speed and strength of blood flow in their arms, and it's much much easier to take blood from your stronger arm.
I can basically only give blood from my left arm, and always tell them that when I donate to save time and energy on my right arm.

It can also be quite painful if they get to the point of actually putting a needle into your slow arm, which happened to me once.

It's strange though, I thought my fapping arm would be the stronger one .

ZombieBride

I'm too light to donate so I make sure my brother gives twice as much for me, I give him dinner in return.

Badly Drunk Boy

I'd like to give blood more often but it usually never works out because I work 2 shifts. In the past, they had one evening session, and one full day (morning and evening sessions) when they came to my town, but now it's just 2 evening sessions which always seem to coincide with my evening shift.

My blood type is A-. How about the rest of ye?

The King of Moo

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I'd like to give blood more often but it usually never works out because I work 2 shifts. In the past, they had one evening session, and one full day (morning and evening sessions) when they came to my town, but now it's just 2 evening sessions which always seem to coincide with my evening shift.

My blood type is A-. How about the rest of ye?

Same here.

I agree with you that they should vary their times. It's a shame when someone like yourself who wants to donate can't, especially as A- is rare and always in big demand.

goldenhoarde

O Rh- for me

stinkle

MagicSean wrote: »

The last time I went they weren't able to get a full bag from me. The nurse told me I would have been better of not donating as she had just wasted 15 minutes and they would have to throw it out because it wasn't a full sample.

Haven't gone back since.

Ah don't let that put you off, she was very rude. The same thing happened to me - my blood pressure went down and they had to stop donation though I felt grand - and I asked was it a total waste of time and was told no, that my sample could be used for research. There's actually a disclaimer on the form that you sign allowing your sample to be used for additional research - they don't transfuse white cells but they also don't dump them either.

I've had a couple of lame experiences when trying to donating, like being slightly under the weight cutoff, taking ages to find one of my crap veins or the one experience above. Plus I had one fainting experience. But more often than not I'm fine, we all have off days. The more people that try to donate then the more successful donations there are every day. I was very embarrassed being weighed in front of people at the clinic and loudly being told I was under the weight guideline, but that never stopped me going back, cringey as it was!

Unique User Name

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I'd like to give blood more often but it usually never works out because I work 2 shifts. In the past, they had one evening session, and one full day (morning and evening sessions) when they came to my town, but now it's just 2 evening sessions which always seem to coincide with my evening shift.

My blood type is A-. How about the rest of ye?

AB (can't remember if I'm negative or positive).
Guess I'll find out tonight, this thread has inspired me to go give blood.

whatdoicare

I give blood regularly and never got sandwiches!! I always liked the refreshments- snack bars and taytos and a large glass of club orange yum yum!
Oh man, I'd love a snack bar right now!

kylith

Thanks for this thread; I needed a reminder to donate. I'll go in on Friday.

The only thing I don't like about it is that gay men can't donate. As far as I know they're no more likely to have any communicable diseases than the rest of the population.

Micky Dolenz

When I donate blood the only things I ask for are a razor and a bucket.

mattjack

Knasher wrote: »

That sounds like they hit an artery, last time I donated they thought they hit mine as well because the blood was the wrong shade of red and it came out very very fast. Luckily they spotted it quickly and, either they were wrong about hitting the artery or because I had various nurses putting pressure on my arm for over an hour I didn't get any bruising. They did warn me that my full arm would likely get bruised, as well as advising me to go to the A+E just in case (which I think was just a legal thing so I decided against it) and paying for a taxi home.

Just out of interest, seeing as your location is in Cork, did you donate in the clinic in St. Finbarr's? That's where it happened to me, but honestly the nurses were very good about it.

you must have got the Jobbridge nurse...or maybe a Fas one

Ilyana

I gave blood for the first time recently in UCD, and even though I nearly fainted I kinda liked the experience. It's nice knowing that doing something so simple can really benefit someone else.

The biscuits and pepsi were just a bonus really, I am a poor student after all

Plus, I'm excited to find out what my blood type is

Knasher

mattjack wrote: »

you must have got the Jobbridge nurse...or maybe a Fas one

I don't hold it against her. She was actually pretty shaken up by the whole experience and I spent a good while telling her to not worry about it. I'd honestly believe she was at this for a while and this was the first time it happened to her.

It won't stop me from giving again and I'd have no problem with her being the one to put in the needle.

maiden

Sandwiches!!! Im a regular O Rh- donor and there have NEVER been sandwiches!!

And so what!!! Im helping to save a life, give with a good heart.......

And bring a packed lunch if you need to eat!!

On another note, I always thought they should hold a blood clinic for single people!! Think about it, Im a single girl and I always think, its a place to find a good man:

They wont be drug users
They wont be gay
They have a social conscience, by giving blood
They have to be practising safe sex

Perfect place sitting down after to chat up people! And the absolute perfect chat up line can be used: DO YOU COME HERE OFTEN!!!!

Im putting on my lippy at the next clinic!

aN.Droid

goldenhoarde wrote: »

O Rh- for me

Same here, they always make a big song and dance about it when I show up. Makes me feel good for donating.

I donate in Limerick and do it a few times a year. They are always lovely to me and always answer my questions politely and show real concern.

Giving blood is one of the most unselfish things a person can do while lying down (I am sure there is a million-billion jokes in that statement :P)

As far as refreshments go, they are important as they will get your blood sugar back up to regular levels. And while I have never seen a sandwich there, they always have plenty of stocked tayto and biscuits and soft drinks. Also, does anyone notice that the bags of tayto taste WAY better when giving blood? Every time I am giving blood my mouth waters for a bag of there special bags of tayto!

Anyway, GIVE BLOOD! it is easy to do, safe and you are saving lives!

mattjack

Limericks wrote: »

Same here, they always make a big song and dance about it when I show up. Makes me feel good for donating.

I donate in Limerick and do it a few times a year. They are always lovely to me and always answer my questions politely and show real concern.

Giving blood is one of the most unselfish things a person can do while lying down (I am sure there is a million-billion jokes in that statement :P)

As far as refreshments go, they are important as they will get your blood sugar back up to regular levels. And while I have never seen a sandwich there, they always have plenty of stocked tayto and biscuits and soft drinks. Also, does anyone notice that the bags of tayto taste WAY better when giving blood? Every time I am giving blood my mouth waters for a bag of there special bags of tayto!

Anyway, GIVE BLOOD! it is easy to do, safe and you are saving lives!

Most of the Dundon family in Limerick are O Rh...so they do like to keep the stocks up...for the usual shootings etc..thats why they appreciate you.

Knasher

goldenhoarde wrote: »

O Rh- for me

And me, there seems to be quite a few of us here in this thread. And here I was thinking I was all special with my rare-ish, universal donor group.

maiden wrote: »

On another note, I always thought they should hold a blood clinic for single people!!

Interestingly there is a superstition in Japan that links blood types with personality and some people base dating decisions around it. Blood types in Japanese culture Apparently it is more popular than horoscopes over here.

aN.Droid

Knasher wrote: »

And me, there seems to be quite a few of us here in this thread. And here I was thinking I was all special with my rare, universal donor group.

Maybe the Japanese are right and we are all in the same mind frame! Spooky!

Knasher

Limericks wrote: »

Maybe the Japanese are right and we are all in the same mind frame! Spooky!

Apparently they think I'm "Agreeable, sociable, optimistic", if I wasn't so antisocial I'd cure them of that misconception pretty quickly.

doctor evil

I'm O Neg and I have donated ten times or so. Got the silver necklace to prove it;)

I've has one to two wagons but it happens. I donate at the Stillorgan clinic in Dublin. Very well set out and always wide selection of food and stuff to read.

I think I'm due again in about a months time.

doctor evil

stinkle wrote: »

I was very embarrassed being weighed in front of people at the clinic and loudly being told I was under the weight guideline, but that never stopped me going back, cringey as it was!

Did they not have consultation rooms? I would not have been happy about that at all.