The Fun of Donating Blood
I love donating blood. For a gal who hasn't ever broken a bone, had to go to the hospital unexpectedly, and rarely needed band-aids growing up, donating blood brings me immense joy.
It started at Western Washington University which routinely has blood drives with Bloodworks Northwest. Chef went without me the first time because someone on campus had asked him if he wanted to donate and he said sure. A few months later, he happened to see a poster saying they were doing it again and we both had free time so we went together in the afternoon. We scheduled our appointments ahead of time, ate food beforehand, made sure we were hydrated and followed all the steps outlined on our "Before Your Appointment" instructions online. I loved that one of the instructions was too: “Enjoy your favorite salty snacks the night before your blood donation.”
When we arrived, we didn't wait long. We answered some questions about traveling recently, if we'd been sick, then they took a small sample to test for iron, tested out blood pressure, and then we waited for our turn in "The Chairs".
I was filled to the brim with excitement and Chef kept encouraging me to settle in because my heartbeat was getting louder in my ears since this was my first time donating. The machines, the nurses, the process, it was all so exciting. Chef and I got to sit next to each other and we kept making the nurses laugh as we realized they note the time of how long it takes to fill up the blood bag.
So we raced. Chef beat me by 10 seconds. He was five minutes, 10 seconds and I was five minutes, 20 seconds! I think he cheated by making me laugh and I'd forget to squeeze the little ball thing.
Donating at The Bloodworks Northwest Bellingham Donor Center
Now fast-forward. Bloodworks Northwest has an amazing online portal which shows you all kinds of nifty things about your blood, how much you've donated, when you can donate again, badges for donating during certain events (I am a proud owner of the "Wicked Themed: For Good” Donor badge), all kinds of wonderful information. Whoever does their marketing has my number (not really) because I get digital ads for their stuff all the time on my social media, I also adore their socials @BloodworksNW on Instagram) -- And they are always hosting amazing raffle-to-win excursions.
They really made me rally when they were offering a trip to Rome! I figured out there were double entry points for the raffle if you donated during this specific time-frame, but there wasn't a blood-drive happening near me, which is when I discovered an even more exciting find: Bloodworks Northwest Bellingham Donor Center over at 410 W Bakerview Rd #117, Bellingham, WA 98226.
I booked my appointment online and had Chef come with me to drive me to and from. When we both walked in the nurse happily checked me in and then asked if Chef wanted to donate too. Chef laughed and said, "Sure! I'm here, why not?" Which really took the male nurse by surprise! I remember him saying, "Oh! Uh, great! People usually don't say yes! Let me get that all set up!" and Bloodworks Northwest got two bags for the appointment of one!
The space was really wonderful. We were each taken into private rooms to go over the questionnaire and check our blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and iron level with that little blood sample. Then in the main room there were folks doing all kinds of different donations. I'm not wise enough to know which or who was donating what or what the Bellingham Center can accommodate, but most likely it was plasma or platelets, and there were signs everywhere for Super Red donations, which sounded super cool. But I'm not brave enough to donate more than my blood.
Our names were called and once again, we knew we would be racing. We told the nursing staff last time it took us both about five minutes, which we didn't know is actually somewhat impressive. So, as they say in F1 to start a race: "It’s lights out, and away we go!" (to be clear, we were fully conscious the whole time, worry not).
Donating Blood!
The chairs were very comfy, the nurses were delightful and attentive and let me be my chatty self. We learned that the fastest donor a nurse had worked on was about 4 minutes, which she informed us was quite startling because by the time she had all the tape, tubes, stickers, etc all sorted she had to stop them all.
Oh! I suppose I should dedicate a part of this blog post to let you know: it doesn't hurt. It is very safe. It can feel a bit intimidating but everyone there is professional and they are ready to hear any of your concerns and answer questions.
The finger poke to test the sample blood is the worst part to me. The rest of it is quite interesting and fun. The only other downside I will share is I have sensitive skin and each time I donate blood I do end up with a little scar in the crease of my elbow where they drew the blood. But nobody else in the entire world will notice those little marks and in a way those tiny scars make me proud. I helped someone.
As I said earlier once we were all set up, Chef and I “raced,” which really just means squeezing the ball as instructed and hanging out. Still took us about five or six minutes. Alas, he won again. Sigh. Next time for sure!
Afterwards, the staff makes sure you feel good and there is a nice little kitchen space where we got to sit and enjoy some snacks and juice and then you're good to go. Of the few times I donated, I only felt poorly afterwards once, hours later, we had eaten a big lunch and I felt light-headed. I did pass out for about four seconds, luckily, Chef was with me and I was in a safe space sitting down already and then felt perfectly fine afterwards. We learned that after we donate we'll go slow and to really make sure I've eaten well before I donate. Nevertheless, before, during, and the immediate after, I've felt well and had a lovely time.
Cool Things About Bloodworks Northwest
Bloodworks Northwest is the sole provider of blood to over 95% of hospitals in the Pacific Northwest and it turns out summer and winter holidays are when blood is needed the most. From June to July or Memorial Day to Labor Day, specifically, that span of time is known as “trauma season,” and often referred to as the 100 Deadliest Days. Which means during those peak seasons they need donors.
There are eight different blood types and if you don't know yours, you can find out when you donate! It's important to know your blood type for all kinds of reasons, but you could also be a donor that has a rarer blood type. The Universal Donor blood type is an O-, which all 8 blood types can accept and according to Bloodworks Northwest’s website is, “Used on helicopters for immediate use.” How cool is that?
According to Bloodworks Northwest, they also have this nifty breakdown which shows us some stats:
Blood Type Rarity
The most common blood types are type O+ (39% if the U.S. population) and type A+ (30% of the population). But certain blood types are extremely rare!
1% of the population has AB- blood type
2% of the population has B- blood type.
6% of the population has A- blood type
9% of the population has O- blood type. The universal type that can be transfused for any need.
Donating Blood, Saves Lives!We didn't get to go to Rome, but we sure had a great time donating.
I really appreciate that Bloodworks Northwest makes donating blood very easy and accessible. Plus, it’s really fun how they put on really epic raffles for doing something good that helps others. It just sort of adds to the fun of the whole event. They’ve done trips, concerts, $10,000 giveaways, lots of other events too.
Even if you go to donate because you’re dreaming of traveling or think it is as fun as me, there is something really uplifting about knowing that you’ve helped someone in their time of need.
Thank you for reading "The Fun of Donating Blood"
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