Our community's blood bank has a mobile unit that comes to our church every few months. I always like to give blood, and encourage others to join me there too. My 16-year-old son donated for his second time today, I'm so proud of him! Although I know that I have veins that are difficult for many phlebotomists to find, and that my blood flows very slowly so that it takes a long time to fill the bag, I am still willing to give the time & effort in order to donate a pint of blood that someone can use.
The phlebotomist who worked with me today found it very difficult to find a vein he could use, and again it was taking a long time to fill the bag. This guy wasn't very communicative, wasn't telling me what was happening or what he was doing. He kept moving the needle around, re-taping it, re-filling the blood pressure cuff I had on my arm. Suddenly he takes the needle out, puts a gauze pad on it and tells me to hold my arm up.
I kept asking if the bag had filled, if they would be able to use the amount they collected, if they could continue to try and tap a different vein -- but he & his colleague just giving vague answers, busying themselves with other donors, saying they would have to weigh the bag at the bank to see if it were enough. Finally I asked "Well, can I have it back? Can you put it back in?" but they just looked at me like I was a weirdo, not knowing I was kidding.
But really, this makes me upset! If I'm going to go through all the time & trouble, deal with the pain & the fatigue afterwards, I want to know that it was for a good cause! This is my precious vital body fluid that I'm DONATING to help save people's lives! I think that I deserve a bit of consideration, to be told "I'm sorry ma'am, this is taking a long time, do you mind if we try to find a different vein?" or "I'm sorry ma'am, but our protocol states that after doing X X X X we must stop the collection, let's hope there's enough that has been collected to help at least one person." And not be treated like a piece of meat on an assembly line.
Should I call the blood bank on Mon & complain, try to get some answers? I don't want to be a bad witness for our church, nor get someone in trouble by complaining about their work. But really, he wasn't very personable to be doing such intimate work with people. My son was also confused with this man's directions, for instance he'd hand my son a piece of gauze & just say "Pressure!" and I would have to explain "He means to put pressure on your finger with the gauze to get it to stop bleeding."
Have you ever had something like this happen? Is there a way to make things go better the next time I donate?
The phlebotomist who worked with me today found it very difficult to find a vein he could use, and again it was taking a long time to fill the bag. This guy wasn't very communicative, wasn't telling me what was happening or what he was doing. He kept moving the needle around, re-taping it, re-filling the blood pressure cuff I had on my arm. Suddenly he takes the needle out, puts a gauze pad on it and tells me to hold my arm up.
I kept asking if the bag had filled, if they would be able to use the amount they collected, if they could continue to try and tap a different vein -- but he & his colleague just giving vague answers, busying themselves with other donors, saying they would have to weigh the bag at the bank to see if it were enough. Finally I asked "Well, can I have it back? Can you put it back in?" but they just looked at me like I was a weirdo, not knowing I was kidding.
But really, this makes me upset! If I'm going to go through all the time & trouble, deal with the pain & the fatigue afterwards, I want to know that it was for a good cause! This is my precious vital body fluid that I'm DONATING to help save people's lives! I think that I deserve a bit of consideration, to be told "I'm sorry ma'am, this is taking a long time, do you mind if we try to find a different vein?" or "I'm sorry ma'am, but our protocol states that after doing X X X X we must stop the collection, let's hope there's enough that has been collected to help at least one person." And not be treated like a piece of meat on an assembly line.
Should I call the blood bank on Mon & complain, try to get some answers? I don't want to be a bad witness for our church, nor get someone in trouble by complaining about their work. But really, he wasn't very personable to be doing such intimate work with people. My son was also confused with this man's directions, for instance he'd hand my son a piece of gauze & just say "Pressure!" and I would have to explain "He means to put pressure on your finger with the gauze to get it to stop bleeding."
Have you ever had something like this happen? Is there a way to make things go better the next time I donate?