Snow Day for Everyone

I forgot to blog last week, which is a shame, because the phlebotomist from Grand Rapids was there. He explained to our middle school history teacher and her daughter how platelet donation works. I know I would mess up if I tried to explain it in too much detail, so I'll settle for saying that it involves centrifugal force. It was a very cool "teachable moment".

Today, meanwhile, the snow won. Our school closed for tomorrow, basically at lunch, out of fear for the pending blizzard. The volunteer coordinator didn't want us to show up to volunteer today, but she wasn't able to get a hold of us before we got there. Basically, we sat around for half an hour then went home; only eight people had shown up since noon, as is. I am typing this forty minutes before I would normally be done, and I have to admit I'm glad for the decision - visibility is awful.

Another slower day at the Blood Center: we had time to sort more shirts and staple some schedules. When we were out at the canteen, we had some interesting encounters, though. We talked to a man who was going camping later this month as a Boy Scout leader (meaning the weather was actually nice, in comparison to other years) and Pure Soul found an empty Oreo wrapper: meaning, the wrapper was factory sealed but only filled with a pocket of air. That was weird. Other than that, it was a normal shift for us, though apparently the radio station was in before we got there. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that sixteen-year-olds can now give blood with parent consent.

1-4-11

On our first blood drive of the new year, Pure Soul and I folded the t-shirts that donors at other drives would receive. There was about half an hour before Pure Soul was able to catch up at the blood  center, so during that time I got to get newsletters ready and alphabetize some paperwork, too.

Last MI Blood Day of 2010

About 40 people came in today. The good news is, they were more spread out than last week. That's about all I can say, except for the fact that I really like small-talking with the donors.

Pie Day

Almost fifty people donated blood today, and most of them came in the four hours Pure Soul and I were there. There were so many people that they had to wait for a bed two and three at a time. According to one of the nurses, a swing is to be expected. Remember: last week there were less than a dozen. Also, last week ther wasn't pie. I guess Martin's occasionally donates food to the canteen, and this time everyone who even tried to donate blood got to take home a pumpkin pie. Most of us marveled at how well they came out; there was hardly any cracking on the surfaces, but they were all toasty golden brown. On a more related note, we got to fold t-shirts for the days that don't have pie.

Two weeks in and I'm already running out of quaint titles...

Yesterday was day two at the Blood Center; this time Pure Soul was with me. Apparently next week we'll have paperwork to do, now that they know we're a team. Not much happened, because there were fewer donors than usual (probably because of the weather), but a man came in who had donated three whole gallons. That's about four years of regular appointments. We thought that was impressive.

MI Blood: 12-7

All right. So "later this month" became "early next month", but I finally had my first chance to work today at the blood center. They host a general blood drive every Tuesday. I worked in the canteen, which is now called the "hero stop"; it was slow. Before I got there, only eight people had shown up and donated. During the five o'clock hour, about half a dozen more people came in, and most of them set up an appointment for eight weeks from now: the next time they can donate. In all reality, it seemed to be a pretty good turn out for an "open house" (for lack of a better term). Then again, someone mentioned that they had fifty-some potential donors with appointments tomorrow.