Note to self:
Blood donation appointment. Tomorrow at 4:15 PM. Go pick up John’s dad at the airport afterwards.
The blood donation appointment lady was like “Eee! You’re a baby donor!” when I called to make the appointment.
My last donation was sometime in July, I think, but it was apheresis, so I can donate whole blood now. And I want to donate whole blood– I don’t do that nearly often enough.
Also, a reminder: blood supplies are again critically low, so if you can donate and you haven’t done so in a while, now would be a good time. There’s a disaster in the US right now, and end-of-summer traffic accidents usually deplete supply anyway. Blood supplies need to get replenished so we won’t be in critical demand all the way until Christmas.
Though, if you’re a Sept. 11th donor (someone who makes a point to donate on Sept. 11), you might be tempted to wait the extra 2 weeks until then. But I’ll point out that Sept. 11 is a Sunday this year, so you might have trouble finding a convenient drive in your area. Better to donate this week, and then you can be all smug at the 9/11 donors and say “oh, well, I donated 2 weeks ago….”
celticess wrote:
What’s a baby donar mean? I would donate but I was told because of my health I can’t.
I hope they have lots of fresh water and that they get a big bunch of porta potties from somewhere. That might sound like a weird thing but in natural disasters if you don’t have fresh water you dehydrate or become ill with contaminated water. With porta potties hopefully it would also keep down the contamination. I’m guessing they will fly in food/relief supplies though as I’ve seen how the US helps eachother in disasters though I wonder how people come back from these natural disasters with their level of destruction.(aka I’m suprised more people don’t move)
Anyways I suggest people donate to the Red Cross. While it’s international they usually have a set account/group for dealing with specific disasters and you can ask donations go to x disaster.
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 11:13 am | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
Yes, but the Red Cross doesn’t usually offer pet-friendly evac shelters, or doesn’t offer many of them. If you are a pet owner, you have to arrange for a different shelter option for yourself and your animals. The general “Hurricane emergency” fund can’t earmark specifically for “pets who are being left behind in this emergency.”
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 11:33 am | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
Baby donor means my blood is safe to give to newborns. It lacks an antiviral agent that newborns also lack.
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 11:34 am | Permalink
celticess wrote:
I thought it offered generalized help to victims… Though yes I realize not necisarily pet specific. Out of curiosity is there blood donar clinics for animals at all? Surely injured pets need blood too and they must get it from somewhere…
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 12:29 pm | Permalink
celticess wrote:
And on that topic… wow I didn’t realize they could have more than one blood type in the same animal:
http://www.vet.utk.edu/bloodbank/vet_banking.shtml
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 12:30 pm | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
Yes– many animal hospitals have blood donor animals, and some individuals also offer their pets as donors.
Hammer needed plasma when he had heat stroke. Doggie blood is, however, very very very expensive, because it’s very hard to get.
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 12:54 pm | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
Yeah, but the money I have in PayPal was specifically set aside for helping an animal in need, so I want to make sure it goes somewhere that very specifically deals with animals.
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 12:55 pm | Permalink
leora wrote:
Wow… that makes you a great donor. I’d help if I could, but I think the blood supply is best served by not having my blood in it.
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 1:32 pm | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
Yeah, but you’re supportive, so yay!
Posted on 30-Aug-05 at 1:55 pm | Permalink
halfawake wrote:
I don’t really see the point of being a September 11 donor. It’s not like they need blood more on that day than they do on any other day. Back in 2001, they probably did, but not this year.
Anyway, I remember looking at the walls when we got some ice cream cones at the local Baskin Robbins and seeing a pint for a pint trade going on there. Basically, if you donate a pint of blood, they’ll give you a pint of ice cream. I think I might go for that.
Hopefully there will be a place that I can donate blood fairly close to campus or close to my dorm. Which wouldn’t be much of a difference, really, since my dorm is only a fifteen minute walk away from campus.
Posted on 31-Aug-05 at 12:46 am | Permalink
lolkje wrote:
My Dad has donated almost 100 gallons of platelets, so when I was in college I decided to try donating blood. I’m not a squeamish person at all, but it’s still unnerving to stop flowing 3 times while sitting in the chair. And then they jiggered the needle around each time to get me going again, so my bruise was pretty nasty. The 10-minute fill-er-up took half an hour. Darn low blood pressure, otherwise I’d do it more often. Maybe I’ll try again if I get into better cardio shape.
Posted on 31-Aug-05 at 1:17 pm | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
I find that if I’m even a little dehydrated, I have trouble donating, so I try to drink a lot of water on donation day (which reminds me….)
Posted on 31-Aug-05 at 1:28 pm | Permalink
anonymous wrote:
Hurray for your Stephanie! It makes me proud. I think your Dad still gives blood regularly . He would be way up there if he has continued since the 70’s. I too did not know what a “baby donor” was. Thanks for telling me.
Mom
Posted on 04-Sep-05 at 5:40 pm | Permalink