September 15, 2012. I just found this post sitting in my draft pile. Whoops! |
| Photo from Rush University Medical Center |
I've been donating blood since I was 17 years old. My parents signed the permission slip so that I could donate at the high school blood drive. For a few years, I donated every six months, and then I began to slack off. I'd donate when I had a chance, but I didn't search out the various blood drives in order to do so. I had to take a few years off from donating because of my tattoos and piercings, but I'm back at it.
Since I'm freelancing, I have a malleable schedule. I decided that it was time to donate platelets. I donated at the Red Cross, and it was an interesting experience. Basically, the blood takes a couple of hours to get out because they filter the platelets out and then give you your blood back.
A friend had been donating platelets for cash and directed me to a location downtown. I decided to give it a try. I've been donating for years, but I hadn't ever been paid for it.
The place she sent me was pretty bad. They were very rude when you were signing up, and you had to wait hours just to be seen. When you finally got in to donate, they took forever in getting to you. You were in a huge cattle-zone of beds, and the folks who stick you absolutely ignore you while they do it. It's an odd experience to be ignored by someone who is shoving a needle into your arm.
When it was all over, they don't even give you juice before kicking you out. Nor do they tell you how to find the door.
I later found out that my $35 (for about five hours of total time, sheesh) blood wasn't going to be used to help people directly. It's being purchased by drug companies. Which is for the best because I even lied to these people after sitting in line for five hours. I told them what medications I was on, and one is an epilepsy medication that my doc prescribed for an off-label use (I've never had a seizure in my life). They made me get a note from my doctor. So I got the note and went back so that I could donate (at this point, I was invested in that $35, and I wanted to see how the whole thing would end).
They asked a couple other questions, and there was another question that had the same type of answer as the stupid not-epilepsy medication. None of these questions were on the original survey (you know, the one where they ask if you've had sex with a man who's had sex with a man since 1973, if you've eaten a bovine in a country that gets mad cow disease, etc.). They were at the end after you've been there for hours already.
A lot of the folks there were desperate for cash. I'm willing to bet that a lot of them lied on all of the questions. It's probably for the best that the blood doesn't go to sick and injured people.
I won't ever go back there. I'll stick with donating for free and being treated like a human being. These people at the for-pay place are not treated like human beings. I've never been in a situation like that, not even when I went to clinics instead of doctors' offices when I was younger because I had no insurance.
It was really disgusting how people were treated and that they had to sit there and take it because they had no work.
Since I'm freelancing, I have a malleable schedule. I decided that it was time to donate platelets. I donated at the Red Cross, and it was an interesting experience. Basically, the blood takes a couple of hours to get out because they filter the platelets out and then give you your blood back.
A friend had been donating platelets for cash and directed me to a location downtown. I decided to give it a try. I've been donating for years, but I hadn't ever been paid for it.
The place she sent me was pretty bad. They were very rude when you were signing up, and you had to wait hours just to be seen. When you finally got in to donate, they took forever in getting to you. You were in a huge cattle-zone of beds, and the folks who stick you absolutely ignore you while they do it. It's an odd experience to be ignored by someone who is shoving a needle into your arm.
When it was all over, they don't even give you juice before kicking you out. Nor do they tell you how to find the door.
I later found out that my $35 (for about five hours of total time, sheesh) blood wasn't going to be used to help people directly. It's being purchased by drug companies. Which is for the best because I even lied to these people after sitting in line for five hours. I told them what medications I was on, and one is an epilepsy medication that my doc prescribed for an off-label use (I've never had a seizure in my life). They made me get a note from my doctor. So I got the note and went back so that I could donate (at this point, I was invested in that $35, and I wanted to see how the whole thing would end).
They asked a couple other questions, and there was another question that had the same type of answer as the stupid not-epilepsy medication. None of these questions were on the original survey (you know, the one where they ask if you've had sex with a man who's had sex with a man since 1973, if you've eaten a bovine in a country that gets mad cow disease, etc.). They were at the end after you've been there for hours already.
A lot of the folks there were desperate for cash. I'm willing to bet that a lot of them lied on all of the questions. It's probably for the best that the blood doesn't go to sick and injured people.
I won't ever go back there. I'll stick with donating for free and being treated like a human being. These people at the for-pay place are not treated like human beings. I've never been in a situation like that, not even when I went to clinics instead of doctors' offices when I was younger because I had no insurance.
It was really disgusting how people were treated and that they had to sit there and take it because they had no work.
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