I got out 20 minutes early today. Pure Soul was sick, but it didn't matter. Only eight people came in since noon, including the time I was there. From the sounds of it, the center in general is waaaaay over their monthly estimates for donations, though, so in general things are going well.

Mixed Views

After two weeks, I am back at the Blood Center. There is not much else to say, except I have all my hours, I love working with the people who come in, and we are out of pretzels. It is nice to see how many people come in every eight weeks, though I did overhear a part of a conversation that seemed like the man speaking wanted to commercialize the blood bank: something about paying the "regulars" and only having a drive when there is a shortage, hopefully leading to less waste. I can't say I agree. For many people, giving blood is a way to give back to the community, it always seems to be in tight supply, and frankly, if there was a shortage severe enough to warrant a blood drive, it would be too late. Blood is processed pretty quickly, but not fast enough for someone in desperate need of a transfusion to wait for one "hot off the press". Better to have excess - giving blood rarely has long-term negative effects for the donor, and for those for whom that is the case, they're probably not eligible to give blood in the first place.

Happy Talkin'....

It was a very chatty crew today. Not that I'm complaining; I got to see some people I hadn't talked to in a while. There were actually a nice number of donations today: about thirty. The weather is starting to get nicer, so maybe that has something to do with it. (And even though I missed last week, I am very close to my hours requirement.)

Checkpoint!

Apparently this is our two-month mark at the Blood Center. We have started seeing people from when we started. We found that amusing. It added a certain level of permanency, actually, because it proved that some people really do donate every eight weeks. Random note: One of the donors is a Protestant pastor. She is going to be taking a sabbatical for two months in Israel, where she has wanted to go since her time in the seminary. Other than that, it was a very quiet day. We barely had to start using a second sign-in sheet.

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.