On the way home from Annapolis this afternoon, we stopped in Prince Frederick. Georgia had some errands, and I dropped in on the Red Cross blood drive in the converted RV in the Wawa parking lot. I had tried to give blood a couple weeks ago, but flunked the iron test (after two tries). This time I squeaked by (time to eat more steaks). Unlike most blood drives I've been at, one phlebotomist took care of one person from start to finish. I drew a humorous, pleasantly plump, elderly black woman, who turned out to be an old pro. A painless stick, and a quick draw, a couple snacks and a juice, and I was out in less than 45 minutes. She didn't even need to draw an "X" on my vein.
You may or may not like the Red Cross (like all massive organizations they have their idiosyncrasies), but if you qualify to give blood, do so. The life you may save maybe be someone you love.
Wombat-socho has the grand round up of Rule 5s "Rule 5 Sunday: Mind The Gap" up at The Other McCain.
I had thought as you do. Then I heard that the American Red Cross gets the blood for free from donations like yours and mine, but resells it to hospitals for multiple hundreds per pint. Which of course gets rebilled to patients, and their insurers.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it's true, so take even this warning with a grain of salt. But I've never heard of the Red Cross opening their books and refuting it. Maybe it's time they did, if they can.