I Hath Survived the Blood Clinic of the Damned

Last Monday, I gave blood at my school's annual blood clinic. On average it takes me one hour to donate at Westminster United Church. I expected to miss one class. In reality it did not take me one hour, but two and a half! I missed not only History, but also homeroom and my entire lunch, which after giving blood, is a very bad thing to miss.

People were dropping left and right at that blood clinic. They were fainting outright, at the finger-prick to test for iron, they were getting queasy and taking up beds for 45 minutes at a time. It was chaos... absolute chaos.

I put the blame for this not on the nurses that were there that day, nor do I place it on the would-be donators that fainted or got queasy. I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Canadian Blood Services. It was known from the beginning by Canadian Blood Services, that this clinic, as a school clinic, was a hotspot for first time donators, whom all of those who fainted and got queasy were. Instead of a greater number of nurses, which should have been the case, the clinic was understaffed.

Some blame also goes to those who aggressively pressured some of the would-be donators into donating, myself included, though none of the people I pressured actually donated... To pressure a person into donating goes against the rules of donating. You are not supposed to give blood if you feel as if you have been pressured into doing it.

So fine... I am ticked, and still a little am, a week later. There is a lesson in this... never give blood at school, it will be absolute hell...

But... Do give blood... it is important to.

Until next time...