The Vampires need victims
I generally try to donate blood around the major holidays. Demand goes up (traffic accidents) and donor supply goes down (many people are too busy to donate). Sometimes I can do this in conjunction with cons (i.e. Memorial Day = BayCon), but I wasn't eligible for BayCon. But coming up to the 4th of July I was eligible and there was a mobile drive within walking distance of my house (about a half mile away).
The donation itself went OK, though they couldn't get the blood to flow well when they stuck my right arm. (My best guess is that a chunk of something semi-solid clogged the needle. That's happened before.) I told them to try the other arm, though I warned them that the veins there are often hard to find. The nurse who had had the "poor stick" on the right arm deferred to another nurse, and then that nurse called over yet a 3rd nurse. She was able to make a good stick and the donation went fine - though I was wearing bandages on both arms when I left.
That donation was Sunday. When checking the website today to see if they had posted my donation (along with Cholesterol test), they had. Fast service. But I also noted that they were VERY short of Type O blood (both positive and negative). They consider a 3-day supply to be 100%. Type 0- (universal donor) was down to 8%, and 0+ (almost as good, and my type) was even lower at 5%. So we're talking about a 4 HOUR supply of blood on hand.
B and AB were pretty good, while A (+/-) was around 40%. But I don't recall EVER seeing the supply for O down so far.
This is, of course, just the local area, and the Stanford Blood Bank in particular in this area. But it tends to be similar everywhere near the holidays. So if you are eligible to donate, please consider it now.
The donation itself went OK, though they couldn't get the blood to flow well when they stuck my right arm. (My best guess is that a chunk of something semi-solid clogged the needle. That's happened before.) I told them to try the other arm, though I warned them that the veins there are often hard to find. The nurse who had had the "poor stick" on the right arm deferred to another nurse, and then that nurse called over yet a 3rd nurse. She was able to make a good stick and the donation went fine - though I was wearing bandages on both arms when I left.
That donation was Sunday. When checking the website today to see if they had posted my donation (along with Cholesterol test), they had. Fast service. But I also noted that they were VERY short of Type O blood (both positive and negative). They consider a 3-day supply to be 100%. Type 0- (universal donor) was down to 8%, and 0+ (almost as good, and my type) was even lower at 5%. So we're talking about a 4 HOUR supply of blood on hand.
B and AB were pretty good, while A (+/-) was around 40%. But I don't recall EVER seeing the supply for O down so far.
This is, of course, just the local area, and the Stanford Blood Bank in particular in this area. But it tends to be similar everywhere near the holidays. So if you are eligible to donate, please consider it now.