I don't love needles and that's one of the reasons I haven't donated blood in several years. Good old-fashioned procrastination is another contributor.
Last week, I got a good reminder that it's been well past time for me to stop procrastinating and sign up to donate some of the life-giving red stuff that flows through my veins (more on those later).
PQB resident David Prud'homme recently gave blood for an incredible 200th time at the quarterly donation clinic in Qualicum Beach.
He got his start in high school, with a suggestion to his principal that he and several of his classmates go down to a blood clinic. For the next 58 years he has faithfully donated whenever he could.
I donated blood for the first time in high school when the gymnasium hosted a blood donation clinic for all eligible students 17 and older. It would be another 14 years before I donated blood again, or at least I attempted to.
When I first moved to Parksville I had some time on my hands while I looked for a job. I saw an online post about a blood donation clinic to be held in Parksville (this was a few years before they were relocated to the Qualicum Civic Centre) and figured this would be a nice thing to do in my new community. I had to message my mom and ask her to please remind me of my blood type, which turned out to be A-positive.
For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to skip lunch that day. That turned out to be a mistake, since I fainted during the collection process. Luckily there was nowhere for me to fall since I was already laid back in the collection chair, so at most my head tilted lazily to the side when I passed out.
The blood clinic staff were a bit concerned, although one remarked they had never seen someone perk up so quickly after fainting. Or possibly they just said that to make me feel less embarrassed. I never did find out if my partial collection could be used.
I think as long as I eat lunch, everything should work out fine next time. I've even been complimented once or twice for my large arm veins, which make it easy for health professionals to find, whether they are drawing blood for a test or a donation.
Not everyone is as fortunate in this sense, and when the subject of donating blood came up in the newsroom, I heard from others in the office about how painful it can be to have small veins. Painful because you end up poked more than a few times before a vein is located, if it's located at all.
I've decided that I'll take my extra-large veins and walk into the next blood donation clinic, procrastination be damned.
Canadians 17 and older are eligible to donate blood every 56 days for males and every 84 days for females, according to Canadian Blood Services. Qualicum Beach hosts four clinics per year, with the next one scheduled for early January.
