Yaatri

I was told you have to wait for 12 months afetr your return from India. In the last 10 years, I have gone to India once a year on an average. Whenever I have been away for India for more than 12 months I donate at the first opportunity. My last trip to India was in Nov 2002. I have been donating every two months since then. The last time I donated, May 23rd, I felt a liottle light headed later that night (I am diabetic). I called the number I had been given. They took my phone number nad had a a doctor calle me within a few minutes. He said that I shouldn't donate within two months before a trip overseas since he wanted me to be healthy on my trip abroad. My next trip oversdeas is expected to be in August, I think I will go ahead an donate in the next two weeks. I am B+ BTW.

willyroo

Shameless bump

pinniped

I gave blood approx. once every 56 days for years - from the time I entered college (1990) until about 1997. In 1997, they said that since I lived in the UK in 1992, I was banned for life from donating.

The thing I find interesting about blood donation is that although I frequently see news reports about shortages, I rarely if ever see an actual blood drive taking place. I work in a major downtown area - in a high-rise building - where you would think they'd set up shop at least once every 2 months. Haven't seen the Bloodmobile out doing its thing in ages though. Even if I was eligible to donate, I probably would only do it once a year - that's about how often I inadvertently stumble across a blood drive in process.

In the early '90's - in college - blood drives were everywhere. You saw them weekly if not more.

Arcolaio99

Here we have them about once a quarter. These are company sponsored and one receives a corporate gift for donating. I usually go about 4 times a year.

BDLORD

I have the same problem Lived in the UK. I was told sorry we can't use your blood. Does anyone know why?

marlin

Mad Cow's disease

choster

If I may rant about the inconvenient hours the National Capital Area Red Cross sets aside for accepting blood donations. It's kind of difficult to donate if you work late and the hours set aside for giving are 8am to 2pm or 2pm to 7pm on weekdays at the downtown center. I asked one of the nurses once why they couldn't shift the schedule to be friendlier to working people and got an answer so obtuse it could have come from an airline CSR: "well, we need to go home some time too, you know."

I can donate on Saturday out in the suburbs, said the phone rep once. And if I don't have a car? "There might be taxis around" (emphasis mine). In other words, during weekdays when nobody can donate, they run a shuttle bus to go 5 blocks between the nearest Metro station to the downtown center. On weekends when employed people can give, they offer no way to get to the Fairfax donation center, a good 2.5 miles away from the near Metro (Vienna/Fairfax).

And they waste so much money sending me "thank-you" cards and "Type O hero" certificates and various tchotchkes even though I've requested on several occasions that they not do so. I don't give only 3 times a year because I don't get enough T-shirts, people. I could double that if you were just a weentsy bit more flexible, just staying open till 8pm one weeknight. But since my comment cards seem to be unacknowledged, maybe I really am the only one? Well, I guess it's not my problem. End rant.

BDLORD

does anyone know anything about that disease?

dhammer53

Time to give blood again.

Call your local hospital to donate a pint. ^

birdstrike

Bump, it is all I can do...

kipper

It's time for me to see what sort of blood drive I can find for about 2 weeks from now. Sadly, I'm having the issue of they run from 12-6 or some such, so I can't make it. I registered for the National Bone Marrow Donor Program years ago, and haven't been contacted by them, but will be if I ever match anyone. I'm hoping I do sometime, so I can help. I registered back then for a pint of blood, and they took the blood for the Marrow Donor program at the same time. They just drew a few extra tubes of blood at the end.

exerda

Some of the disqualifying questions are just downright stupid

I know a fair # of gay friends who lie to that question so they can continue to donate. They have been in stable relationships for years, so it's not like they are at any higher risk of AIDS than anyone in the general populace

exerda

I share that rant with you ... before moving to the DC area, I gave every 8 weeks on the dot, accumulating a couple of gallons fairly quickly. Since moving here, due to their hours, I have donated only when the bloodmobile has been in my office's neighborhood, which means 2-3x a year instead of 6x

The DC center is a fairly long walk from the Metro IIRC, and the Arlington one has had awful issues arranging any kind of appointment for me


Here are a few other discussion items:

Would it make sense for the IRS to consider blood donations as deductible? The Red Cross, Inova, etc., aren't ever going to pay donors due to the abuses you'd see (and the sorts of high-risk donors you'd attract), but the IRS would allow a max of 6 donations a year to be deducted. Wouldn't that be a fair incentive for more people to donate? I guess it might still incentivate people to lie so they can continue to donate, though.

Why did they go from the "fill it out yourself" questionnaire to the "nurse asks you the questions" version? It takes twice as long as before that way, and it's not like the nurse reading them actually makes you pay that much more attention to the questions.

cactuspete

An elderly South African broke his own Guinness world record when he donated blood for the 350th time, inspired by the enduring memory of a terrible accident he witnessed as a child. The South African National Blood Service said in a statement that 79-year-old Maurice Creswick had cracked his own record for the fourteenth time and that he donated 480 ml of his blood every 56 days.

http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3359113a4560,00.html

MapleLeaf

I am like wharvey, gave blood every 3 or 4 months till I ticked off the form saying I was gay - oops, now it is no good I refuse to lie on the form so just don't go back.

Truly sad.