Who donates blood?

How many times a year do you donate blood?

  • 1 - 2

    Votes: 8 20.5%

  • 3 - 4

    Votes: 11 28.2%

  • More than 4

    Votes: 7 17.9%

  • Donate? Eww...needles - no way!

    Votes: 9 23.1%

  • I can't due because of an answer I would give on the screening questions

    Votes: 4 10.3%
  • Total voters
    39
bcool

bcool

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Nov 25, 2010
Messages
201
Location
St Charles, MO
Display Name
Display name:
Bud
My wife & I donated blood today, and it got me to wondering how many people do that? I seem to recall hearing from a commercial for the Red Cross or some other organization that maybe 10% or so of the population does so.

So, I thought I'd put up a poll and see what the pilot community does...no way scientific, just something for us to discuss :)
 
My old man has been donating for years. He got a plaque not too long ago for the accumulated donation of 1 gallon.

I've never done it, yet. Not a big fan of getting stuck by needles if I don't have to, but I suppose it's good to get the ole' oil changed once in a while though.
 
It took me 45 years before I worked up the nerve to do it, and now I regret waiting so long.
 
I do, but it's been a while. Used to be a bit more convenient because the office park with a couple of ten story buildings would bring in the Bloodmobile on a regular basis.
 
I used to donate on a regular basis. The last time I went to donate, several years ago, they wanted a complete list of every country I ever visited with the dates of the visit. After 20 years in the Navy it would take me too long to try to determine the dates of every visit to a foreign country so I no longer donate.
 
I used to give regularly and had well over five gallons. A few years ago people who had lived in Europe during a specific time period were no long eligible to give due to mad cow disease. I was stationed in Germany during the time period. Haven't given in sometime now because of that ruling.

Mmmoooooowwwww
 
I donate, a lot.
Started while I was in the Air Force in SEA, kept it up all these years.
 
Double red cell, usually q4-6mo
huge ugly veins, at least someone appreciates em
 
My employer's policy is that you are grounded for 72 hours after giving blood, so that's something people might think about if they are considering flying after donating.
 
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They will not touch mine in case of exposure to BSE.
 
Everskyward said:
My employer's policy is that you are grounded for 72 hours after giving blood, so that's something people might think about if they are considering flying after donating.
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It is not policy here, but being a medevac company we just suggest donating at the beginning of the pilots 7 days off.
 
Everskyward said:
My employer's policy is that you are grounded for 72 hours after giving blood, so that's something people might think about if they are considering flying after donating.
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Our policy is the same, so I get it done right at the tail end of a sequence, or on my first day off. I don't go nearly enough though - maybe once or twice per year.
 
Last time I tried to donate, was turned down because I work at a hemodialysis facility - pretty weak reasoning there IMHO.
I have, for about 30 years, been on a Bone Marrow donation registry, but have never been called.....guess no one shares my genes.
 
I am A+, so local bank prefers my platelets, which is a 2-3 hr process, so I schedule it when there's a game or movie I want watch, or have a book I'm reading. Don't do it as often as they would like because they require no aspirin for 72 hrs prior, and I usually take a baby aspirin once a day. Ground myself overnight after donating.
 
I used to give blood,,,for years,,,until one day i got hurt and needed transfusions.
Hospital charged me for the blood and putting it in me. I explained i was a multiple gallon donor but they cared not. Kinda took the zeal out of future donations.
 
LT4247 said:
I used to give blood,,,for years,,,until one day i got hurt and needed transfusions.
Hospital charged me for the blood and putting it in me. I explained i was a multiple gallon donor but they cared not. Kinda took the zeal out of future donations.
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That does kinda suck about the whole process, but I figure there's jerks everywhere and without blood to charge them for, someone might have to decide which trauma patient gets the stuff and who doesn't -- before we even get into blood types...
 
For years I worked just down the street from the local donation center. I got O- (cmv neg as well), or as my favorite phlebotomist calls it, the baby blood. I have of late been giving double reds which is great as they top off your fluids while donating and you only come in every 16 weeks instead of eight.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I've done it a couple times.

I sold my plasma in college 3 times a week.
Damn, I was poor...
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My fiance wants to do this while she recovers from her surgery. Donating is one thing but i dont know the risks of doing it so often for money. Heard a lot of unemployables do it and i dont know how reputable plasma places are. Her health isnt worth the money.
 
overdrive148 said:
My fiance wants to do this while she recovers from her surgery. Donating is one thing but i dont know the risks of doing it so often for money. Heard a lot of unemployables do it and i dont know how reputable plasma places are. Her health isnt worth the money.
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Biolife was the name of the place I sold mine.
It was in the middle of a college town so it was full of 20 somethings like me getting beer money.
It seemed safe enough.

They take out the plasma and put the blood cells back in. That is why you can donate (er.. um sell) so frequently.
 
I can't. I'm a slender (okay wimpy) 6ft 150#s. I've donated three times, and each time I got so pale they were afraid to let me leave the donation trailer. Took a good 2 hours to get back to usual (not normal) the last time.

Fortunately the Red Cross takes green!
 
I'm only slightly over the weight limit for donating blood. I did it once when I was a lot younger and it made me very sleepy, so I have not done it since.
 
I used to regularly until I got deployed to the Middle East a few times, then they decided I wasn't such a good candidate. I haven't donated since.
 
We can donate blood and semen...not mixed together.
 
used to be pretty regular until I was flying trips to Dominican Republic. That's on the no-no list; I suppose because of malaria. There are so many disqualifies now it is a bit of a pain. OTOH transfusions kept my father alive for a number of years. I am grateful to those anonymous donors and intend to start donating again when I can pass the interview.
 
When I give, I (futilely) remind the manager of my great idea to encourage donation, a track-back system where if your blood gets used, you get a note saying:
"hey - your donation went to save the life of (eg a car wreck victim), thought you'd like to know!"
 
Now that I own a plane, I'm gonna have to start selling too.

I donate every time I see a blood mobile... and it's usually 1-2 times per year. Work does it, so I go in then.

I have to usually threaten the person taking my info at the Red Cross because I'm O- and CMV-.... so I get friggin' HOUNDED as soon as the 6 week mark hits... but if I ever NEED blood my insurance company is going to get raked over the coals.
 
Donated many gallons over the years (O+) but the Red Cross screwed up and said I had Hepatitis and no more donating. After many negative results from regular screening by my family physician, I gave up trying to convince the Red Cross they had a false positive or FUBAR records.

Cheers
 
I'm at 61 units and counting... I used to work for a hospital group and the drives were every 56 days like clock work...
 
I have one huge gripe.......


Red Cross is worse than ANY telemarketer I've experienced. They are horrible. Seriously. I got tired of it and told them I won't donate anymore due to their agressive tactics and demand to be off the list.

Seriously. You'd think I was handing out free hand jobs with my blood donation. They were coming at me from all angles.
 
Unit74 said:
I have one huge gripe.......


Red Cross is worse than ANY telemarketer I've experienced. They are horrible. Seriously. I got tired of it and told them I won't donate anymore due to their agressive tactics and demand to be off the list.

Seriously. You'd think I was handing out free hand jobs with my blood donation. They were coming at me from all angles.
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For 2 years I refused to donate for this very reason. They called me literally every single night at 8:30pm. I told them one Saturday night "If you call again, I will not donate again." They called me the next night. So I let that person have it. About a week later I got a really nicely worded apology letter from the regional director. I still refused to donate.

Then I felt bad for not sharing all this delicious delicious blood and now I just tell them in the blood mobile that I don't want them to contact me, ever. I don't know if they fake a phone number for me or what.
 
I suspect they are making a killing on the blood products. Must be agonizing to see so many money trees walking around they are not harvesting. Hence, the agressive tactics.
 
rolivi said:
I can't. I'm a slender (okay wimpy) 6ft 150#s. I've donated three times, and each time I got so pale they were afraid to let me leave the donation trailer. Took a good 2 hours to get back to usual (not normal) the last time.

Fortunately the Red Cross takes green!
Click to expand...

Im similar and have crashed a couple of times. The trick is to drink juice to keep your blood sugar up throughout the procedure.
 
Unit74 said:
I have one huge gripe.......


Red Cross is worse than ANY telemarketer I've experienced. They are horrible. Seriously. I got tired of it and told them I won't donate anymore due to their agressive tactics and demand to be off the list.

Seriously. You'd think I was handing out free hand jobs with my blood donation. They were coming at me from all angles.
Click to expand...

Their aggressive fundraising is one of many reasons for my tepid opinion of the Red Cross as an organization. It's also why when I do give blood, I provide them with no email address and a special phone number that I never answer. It's a Magic Jack number that I give to people and organizations from whom I never want to hear, which would be pretty much all of them except for family and close friends.

Rich
 
X3 Skier said:
Donated many gallons over the years (O+) but the Red Cross screwed up and said I had Hepatitis and no more donating. After many negative results from regular screening by my family physician, I gave up trying to convince the Red Cross they had a false positive or FUBAR records.

Cheers
Click to expand...

There's a cheap and quick Hep test that almost every place uses that has a high false positive rate.

My wife being a nurse, they get tested all the time and she had a false positive that scared the hell out of her for a few weeks because of that test, which led to the better more expensive test and a solid negative.

When we did the research as to why, we learned about the extremely high false positive rate on that cheap test everyone uses. It's all about money.

The false positive rate pushes above 10% on that thing. Seems ridiculous for modern medicine but there you go.
 
I have to answer one of the "have you ever..." questions on the screen yes. They ask if you've ever been in the military or a civil employee of the military, and I point out yes, but I never went overseas (it's one of the CJS screening questions).
 
Too much time overseas. I used to give and would now but can't. Can't donate body parts either - had them take the donor "yes" off my driver license last renewal. With my luck, someone would get my brain in a transplant and sue my estate because it was unhealthy and unsuitable. I could have told them that while I was living. :)

BTW, it is interesting to read polls and note the bias. There are quite a number of people who don't give because they are barred but the pollster didn't give an alternative for that response - only the assumption that non-donaters are wimps. This bias happens on many polls - one can see where the pollster comes from, but I guess some of the polls are written with a humorous or other twist in mind and of course they're not expected to be objective on here, anyway. Just a comment.
 
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