A bloody good cause

By Jenny Tang

tang0120@algonquincollege.com

The big church doors swung open to reveal a Canadian Blood Services clinic set up across a large room with volunteers, nurses, and donors walking around.

I nervously followed my friends to register to become a donor at the age of 17 when I lived in Oshawa, Ont.

Four years later, the same nervous feeling plagued the back of my mind as I called to set up an appointment for the clinic that was held in the Marketplace Food Court on Nov. 19.

At the clinic, there was a quick visit to registration where I was confirmed for my appointment and a red plastic folder was picked up. Once I walked into the cornered off section at the Marketplace, phlebotomist, Amanda Monette, took the red folder, asked how I was feeling, and reconfirmed my name and address.

And then it was time for the finger prick test.

Monette took the finger prick and placed it near the top side of the middle finger and within one second, the needle made a small puncture. At first, it looked like nothing had happened, but when she squeezed my finger, a tiny pool of blood formed. She used a tiny dropper to take a sample and squeezed it into a container filled with blue liquid to check my iron level.

Once the iron test was passed, I filled out a record of donation questionnaire. “Are you feeling well today?” was at the very top and the rest of the questions asked for information regarding recent travels to the handling of monkeys.

Afterwards, I was directed to a different section to wait for another nurse. Also waiting was first-time donor, Dean Cole.

Cole made the decision to donate when his professor informed the class that a classmate has leukemia and is in need of blood. The second-year graphic design student plans on donating again.

The final step before the actual donation consisted of checking body temperature, blood pressure, and answering the rest of the questionnaire.

Without even looking at the sheet, the nurse read off the last 16 questions verbatim.

“At any time since 1977 have you taken money or drugs for sex? … In the last 12 months, have you had sex with a man who had sex, even one time since 1977 with another man?” she asked.

It was difficult to keep from laughing at some of the questions, but nonetheless, it was part of the procedure. And as strange the questions may seem, there are reasons behind it because it’s asked by Health Canada, said Monette.

Finally, the nurse handed over the Unit Exclusion Labels. On it are two barcode stickers – one says, “Yes, use my blood,” and the other one says, “No, do not use my blood.” As another precaution, donors are given another chance to discreetly inform Canadian Blood Services if the blood should be used or not. Regardless, the blood will still be tested for the HIV. 

Walking over to the final nurse, Constance Lazurko for this procedure, she had me lay down with my arm resting on a small table. On it went the rubber arm band and pungent iodine. She then took out a needle from a new package and hooked it up to tubes leading to the blood bag.

In went the needle.

There was a problem however. My blood flowed very slowly and the nurse had to readjust the needle several times. I don’t know if it was the uneasiness of the situation or if I didn’t have enough to eat and drink during lunch, but suddenly I felt queasy and light-headed. My friend asked if I was okay, and as I slightly shook my head, another nurse walking by called out “Stop.”

All of a sudden, several nurses surrounded me and I was taken care of immediately.

Although I wasn’t able to completely donate a bag, the blood drawn will be used for testing, according to Lazurko.

As I sat and had juice and cookies and recollected myself, I am still looking forward to my next donation despite what happened.