tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988729.post7482727933224104775..comments2024-03-27T11:42:47.601-04:00Comments on Another Monkey: 10D.B. Echohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01797128570217627410noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988729.post-28891425567128049832007-09-05T10:29:00.000-04:002007-09-05T10:29:00.000-04:00When my grandmother was still alive, we often joke...When my grandmother was still alive, we often joked about the fact that we both had the same blood type, so she might someday et some of my blood. I wouldn't mind keeping someone else's grandmother or grandfather alive for a few more weeks with my blood.D.B. Echohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01797128570217627410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988729.post-44698260676475539462007-09-04T19:04:00.000-04:002007-09-04T19:04:00.000-04:00Now that I work in the Blood Bank department of th...Now that I work in the Blood Bank department of the local hospital, I have some real ambivalent feelings about blood donation. Partly for the reason dee mentioned; in fact our facility has switched from getting blood from ARC (American Red Cross) to the Central PA Blood Bank. Handling blood donations has become big business for ARC, and they manage to entice people to actually DONATE the product they then sell to hospitals for quite a bit of money. I'm sure there is some profit involved; all that expense probably doesn't just cover the testing & processing of the units. It just seems that they are taking advantage of good-hearted people's altruistic tendencies.<BR/><BR/>My bigger ethical dilemma arises from seeing who this blood goes to. We've all been sold the heart-warming story of saving accident victims or young pregnant mothers or some child with cancer. I don't want to imply that none of these scenarios ever occur. But what I see at our hospital is that the vast majority of our blood seems to go to very elderly patients, many living (existing?) in nursing homes. It's one of those situations where I now say "I'd never want to get blood donations every-other week just to prolong my old age"; of course I'd probably see things differently if it were my DADDY needing the transfusions, or a loved one with cancer, or myself (85 may not look so old when I'm 79!).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988729.post-71960645048868770112007-09-04T03:12:00.000-04:002007-09-04T03:12:00.000-04:00the vampires! they are after me!they are stalking ...the vampires! they are after me!<BR/>they are stalking me, because my type-O blood is apparently quite delicious!<BR/><BR/>anyway, i do donate several times a year...not eight...but at least three. <BR/><BR/><BR/>p.s.<BR/>i wanted to donate after 9/11, too. the sad thing is, there weren't many people who needed blood.<BR/>shitty, but true.tiffanyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04723337233939845595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988729.post-66571554795604955522007-09-03T08:08:00.000-04:002007-09-03T08:08:00.000-04:00Thanks to pharesis donations back in the 80's, I w...Thanks to pharesis donations back in the 80's, I was able to get my ten gallon pin back then (they counted the three hour procedure for 3 units, and you could give every two weeks). But also thanks to pharesis donations, I can no longer donate a complete unit because my veins have been shot. Having served on several committees with the Red Cross, I have mixed feelings about them. I think the local chapters do wonderful work, but the national organization should be investigated for fraud. They were almost as good as Republicans in using 9/11 for their own purposes, and based on my experiences with them back in the 80's and 90's I long ago concluded that I would never donate to them again.deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16989368088566145762noreply@blogger.com