I want to donate blood Monday. I do see a Red Cross Donation Center relatively near me. Can I just show up during business hours and give?
I have a donor ID already, but I can’t get my online account to login no matter what I try.
I haven’t been ill and have nothing in my history to prevent me from giving. I have given before.
I would call ahead. Even if they normally take walk-ins, they probably don’t want a bunch of people sitting together in the waiting room right now.
I would get there as close to the time they open as you can. You should just need your ID. Everything else they can look up.
I’ve been donating just about as often as I’m allowed to, for many years, except that I often have extended illness that prevents it. I make whole blood donations, double red cell donations, and some third kind, plasma or something (I forget). I always enjoy it. At this point in life, donating blood is the only way I get to lie there for a little while and get treated like royalty. Besides, having medical orders to “eat heartily at your next meal” is kind of a thrill.
But I’m afraid. I’m 63 with chronic respiratory disease, and hypertension, and I’m male, making four high covid-19 risk factors. I wouldn’t dare go to a public place with a dozen or more other people there, especially in a town with active cases. Besides, I’m constantly coughing, which would probably scare the bejesus out of everybody else, and for all I know induce the blood bank to toss my donation anyway.
FWIW I don’t have the least worry that there is something about blood donation per se that is risky. I know I’m not going to get it from the needles. Social contact is absolutely my only worry.
If one isolated person would do me in the middle of a parking lot or field, I’d go for it. How close to that can I get?
Napier, I would say do what is best for you. You can do other things to help, such as spread the word about the need for blood donations. You are in a higher risk category so I would encourage you to keep yourself safe. You can come back when this is over. I promise you, there will be a donor bed with your name on it.
Thanks ivy lass. There has always been a donor bed with my name on it before. I believe there will always be one in future. And I will keep donating for certain! Just let me wait until it’s safe for people like me…
I’m donating this coming Friday, which was the earliest appointment I could get. They’ve taken steps to maintain the appropriate distances between donors and employees so they can handle a lot fewer donations per day than they used to be able to do. I’m over sixty-five, but I’m in pretty good shape overall and not too concerned. I like to let my immune system know who it’s working for.
I have done so and am giving blood Wednesday afternoon.
I’m curious about the facts around whole blood versus platelet donation, so I started a new thread to avoid hijacking this.
At the blood donation center in Wilmington, NC today there was a sign asking donors with O+, O-, A-, and B- blood types to donate a double red blood cell donation if possible. They took my temperature outside of the building in the parking lot. I don’t know what would have happened if I’d had a fever, but I suspect they wouldn’t have let me in.
While I was donating I heard a couple of the phlebotomists talking. Someone had walked in trying to donate blood because he had heard that they would do a COVID-19 test as part of the process. He was advised that the test for the virus wasn’t performed on blood, and sent him on his way.
I also overheard management trying to convince workers to work a bloodmobile in Durham, NC tomorrow offering time and a half, a hotel room, and per diem for meals with no takers. After the manager had left I asked the workers about it and they said that Durham was a “hotspot” for the virus and they wanted none of it.
We had to put a sign on the door of the Bloodmobile warning people away if they had or were around people who have Covid-19. We are also asking people who have been to Italy, China, South Korea, or Iran to wait 28 days before donating blood.
In NYC they’re asking survivors of covid-19 to donate so that they can use the antibodies to cure those who are sick.
In my small city (pop ~5000) the typical blood drive for me is: Walk in at 4:10. I’m bleeding by 4:25
My experience yesterday (Mar 26):
I make ( a strongly encouraged) appointment for 4:00. I show up at 3:55. It is at a bigger venue so chairs can be separated. I get my temp taken right away (98.2 F)
I see there are a lot of stickers on the table, some with appointments before 3. I was told they were an hour behind.
I do my health screening at around 5:30. I get on the bed around 6
They actually had to stop taking people around 5:15 because they ran out of bags.
Apparently they cancelled a drive on Monday so they added 20 appointments but only one worker and no beds. Also a bunch of new folks (so no rapid pass) and at least one slow bleeder ahead of me.
Brian
We’ve stopped taking walk-ins unless there’s an open slot. Once those are filled that’s it for the day.
The FDA has approved using convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients.
Every blood drive I’ve signed up for since the crisis began has been cancelled. I may actually have to drive the 40 minutes to the nearest Red Cross to donate.
I donated today. I had to make the appointment well in advance, and it was noticeably less crowded in the waiting area; presumably they’re spacing people out. There’s parking in the rear, and normally you can enter through the back door and go right up the stairs, but for now you have to go to the front to get your temperature taken and a preliminary screening before you go upstairs. They insist you keep the pen you use on the questionnaire even if they take your blood, which I found amusing. I almost didn’t get to donate because my first hemoglobin reading was only 12.4, but the guy called in another guy to do it again and I squeaked by with 12.5. A few donation chairs had signs saying “do not use;” I noticed the one next to me had a small rip in the vinyl and wondered if that was why; maybe they can’t adequately sterilize those right now. Or maybe it’s just because the chairs are less than 6 feet apart? They usually offer warm blankets (as in, they have a blanket warmer that makes them feel fresh out of the dryer, which is heavenly) but didn’t this time. The snacks were behind the counter instead of out for everyone to grab, though they were on top of offering them to everyone. Otherwise, it was quick and pleasant as usual.
Update to FDA rules on gay men donating blood.
This popped into my head the other day, and I’m curious what this device is called and if it can be purchased for use at home. Although I’ve now successfully donated 9 pints (I miscounted earlier!), I’ve been deferred 2 or 3 times for low hemoglobin. I’m always within a healthy range–above 12, but you need to be 12.5g/dL to donate. I’ve given up on trying to donate every 8 weeks as I can’t get my levels back up in such a short time even with supplements; I go every 3 months at most. It would be nice to be able to check my levels painlessly at home, without risk of infection, before I make the long drive to Westwood.
It’s called an Orsense. OrSense NBM-200 Non-Invasive Hemoglobin Device Selected by the Central Blood Bank of Catalonia