Now I know everyone thought that last term was the last you’d heard of me but fear not! For I am back with another article! So for what might be my last article (although probably not, I will need to write an article complaining about A levels before the end of term) I wanted to tell you about a first.
Let me set the scene, it’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m admittedly supposed to be revising. Much to his dismay I had dragged my father away from his work, now what was I doing which validated such a disruption to routine? Well for the first time, I was donating blood.
Now if you have spent any time with me, I will probably have mentioned it once… or twice… or in maybe every single conversation I’ve had recently so I’m quite clearly an expert now. So as a result (and so it hopefully exits my system and I’m able to focus relaxing) I have decided to produce this handy guide to donating blood (with a few jokes thrown in for good measure) to refer to if anyone ever decides to donate blood in the future.
Step 1. Decide if you are eligible to donate blood. In the UK you have to be 17 or over to be able to donate blood and there is further a list of criteria to ensure that your blood is suitable to be given to other patients, the criteria can be found on the NHS give blood website. More importantly, you need to decide your level of squeamishness and your comfort with needles. Unfortunately, we are yet to find the technology to just teleport the blood out of our bodies and needles are indeed required to remove it.
Step 2. Pick a date, time and location. There are donation centres all around the country including locations in New Malden, Tooting, Wandsworth and Brixton (although unfortunately not in Wimbledon). Regarding date and time, I would recommend not immediately before or after vigorous exercise as I’m not sure it’s an entirely valid excuse to get out of PE (for clarification I’m not endorsing
Step 3. Appear at your chosen donation centre at your specified time. Once you’ve announced your arrival to the wonderful staff you will be provided with screening form and some water. Before donating you will need to drink a minimum of 500ml of water, as I hope all bio students know, blood is mostly water! Whilst plastic cups are provided in order to ensure we’re doing our bit for the environment I recommend bringing along a water bottle.
Step 4. Next you will be taken into a separate room, for this any company you may have persuaded, coerced or dragged along with you, will not be able to join you. In this room the answers to your form will be gone through to ensure there isn’t any serious issues that may prevent you from donating blood. As (most) readers are under 20 the staff will confirm you are a suitable height and weight to donate blood. You will also need to check your iron levels. This is done by putting a droplet of your blood into a particular liquid and measuring the time taken for it to sink to the bottom. But do not worry! For even if you fail this test there is a chance at redemption! There is also an alternate monitor which can also read blood iron levels.
Step 5. And now the step you’ve all been waiting for, the actual donating blood. A torniquet will be placed on your upper arm, the area cleaned, and a needle inserted. Whilst the insertion of the needle doesn’t hurt it is mildly uncomfortable. The most important part of this step is of course be prepared to be insulted, whether it be by the machine that weights the blood donated which beeps aggressively if you’re not donating fast enough or by the staff on the quality of your veins, you will be insulted on things you didn’t even know it was possible to be insulted on. (For those wondering when I donated blood the machine bleeped so loudly and so repeatedly a nurse had to come give me a stress ball made of rubber gloves to ensure I was able to maintain proper blood flow). Something else that’s key to be aware of is whilst donating is, to stop machine bleeping at you, you need to clench and release your muscles. Key example exercises involve clenching and releasing your fist and raising and lowering your legs it’s not exactly the most stylish look but much better than being yelled at by an inanimate object.
Step 6. Once you have donated a member of staff will come over to remove the needle. And you move onto my personal favourite step. To minimise risk of fainting you will need to remain in the donating chair/or other designated area for at least 15mins. During this time, you are provided with food, water and squash. I have been promised a pack of mini cheddars next time I donate and I’m going to hold the staff to this (not really – the staff are incredible, and I recognise that they are doing an amazing job without providing me with mini cheddars)
Congratulations you have donated blood!
Disclaimer: although I donated blood it is important to note that there is no pressure or blame placed on other people if they can’t or choose not to. I recognise that it is each individual’s decision and not donating whether for personal, religious or medical reasons does not making you any less of an incredible person.
