Originally Posted By: Number_35
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
I remember when I started in high school...I was the skinny, tall, awkward kid (who hated needles BTW...)but wanted to 'arm up' for a good cause & the cookies. Imagine my surprise when I saw more-than-a-few tough guys & jocks either turn white-as-a-sheet and pass out or throw up immediately afterwards!
"What's the big deal?" I asked...
More cookies & orange juice for me!
I've been donating since I was 18 (so there's been a bit of water under the bridge since then). At one of my former workplaces in the mid-1980s, a mobile Red Cross clinic used to set up in the parking lot, and I'd give right after finishing the night shift @ 0800. Anyway, there was was a reasonable contingent of us who would donate, and I invited one of the fellows who was a big guy who was into body-building and chasing women. He replied, "No way, I don't want to get AIDS!" Uh, that's not how it works ... I figured he was afraid of the needle.
It's interesting to hear you all speak of the number of gallons donated. Here we go by number of donations. I think they take about 0.5 litres a time, so that's roughly 7.5 donations to make a US gallon. So hats off to all of you who have donated gallons and gallons!
After the tainted-blood Hep C scandal in the 90s, the responsibility for collecting blood was taken away from the Red Cross and a new agency, Canadian Blood Services, was created. Anyway, that's where I get my one doughnut every eight weeks.
We had a massive outbreak on hep C in Fremont,Nebraska in 2002. Only oncologist in that city was reusing syringes used to treat cancer patients at his clinic. Two days after the story broke, the doctor told his staff that he needed to travel home to Pakistan to help his sick mother.The doctor is still AWOL. Nebraska authorities would like to see the doctor return to the US. The state taxpayers ultimately picked up the tab for treatment of ninety nine individuals who were already burdened with cancer and then had to contend with hep C.
