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From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month.
Message-ID: <1284@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 6-Jan-86 14:31:50 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.1284
Posted: Mon Jan  6 14:31:50 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Jan-86 01:01:34 EST
References: <2164@aecom.UUCP> <172@hadron.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: USAMC ALMSA, St. Louis, MO
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I give blood. As a matter of fact, I've given over 3 gallons during the
past decade or so. If everyone did as I have done, the Red Cross would
be awash in blood and there would be no need to solicit donations.
However, sometimes my desire to continue diminishes. Two reasons:

1) Some of the technicians (or whatever they are) that do the actual
collecting are great. Others are losers. When the one I get is good,
there is just about no pain, the blood flows easily and rapidly, and
there is no leakage or bruising afterwards. When I get a bad one, like
my last time (early December), they lose the vein, spend some time
churning the needle in and out trying to find it, and then get sluggish
output. (This last one shut me down after a half-bag had been collected;
that's the first time they did that! Why would they do that if they need
blood so badly?) And then I have a vast bruise on my arm for weeks after.
The last time ths happened, I was so disgusted I stopped donating for
three years. They ought to screen these people better, and only allow
the really good ones to actually stick people. The others can do the
standing around to watch the bags fill. All you'd need is one good
sticker for each collection drive, except for really big efforts.

2) I would think that multiple donors, especially multi-gallon types,
would be eagerly sought-after by the Red Cross. Yet, they seem to do
little to encourage this or give recognition to them. They have even cut
out the donor-record cards that had specific pint numbers printed on 
them, so you had rarer and rarer record cards as you donated more and
more. I would think that they would go to the effort of doing the sort
of silly hoopla when a donor passes a gallon mark that the volunteers at
the public TV station auctions do when there is an overbid -- wave some
flags and blow some horns or something. Yes, its meaningless and
somewhat embarassing, but it shows that they care! They don't care, it
seems, and I'm beginning to lose interest in continuing to donate.

(I HAVE told my local Red Cross office this, by the way. Things have
gotten worse since then, not better.)

Will