[net.med] January is National Volunteer Blood

wombat@ccvaxa.UUCP (01/13/86)

For Will Martin's benefit, not all blood collectors are so blase. Our county
blood bank (not associated with the Red Cross) has several plaques on their
wall listing all 4-gallon-or-more donors. (One guy is up to 12 gallons.)
They also give out keychains for the 1st gallon, coffee mugs, etc., just
like public TV pledge drives. The nurses are almost always good with the
needle (I have had problems a couple of times when my vein rolled out from
under it), and to reassure you there's a picture of a chimp holding a needle
and a grapefruit saying, "Don't worry, I've practiced on hundreds of
grapefruit!" Maybe you should stop giving your blood to a large corporation
:-).

"When you are about to die, a wombat is better than no company at all."
				Roger Zelazny, *Doorways in the Sand*

						Wombat
					ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!wombat

ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (01/16/86)

> The nurses are almost always good with the
> needle (I have had problems a couple of times when my vein rolled out from
> under it), ...

What would it take for you to say something less positive
than "almost always?"

jens@moscom.UUCP (Jens Fiederer) (01/28/86)

Donating blood was spiritually encouraged in the US Virgin Islands.  They
had a big blood drive there just as I was turning 18.  All donaters were
give a small flask (pint-sized, I think) of rum or vodka.  My first donation
experience!

Another oddity was the distance between the stations -- resting was done in
a different building from where the blood was taken!  My escort complained
that I was walking too quickly, and she couldn't keep up to pick me up if I
had fallen...

I forget whether I missed out on the booze because I was too young at the time
or whether it was because I simply didn't drink yet at that age.

Azhrarn