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It would be nice if other donation centers adopted the OrSense device too. Doctors no longer use leeches for bloodletting (as far as I know!), and maybe we could eliminate the finger-stick bloodletting as well!
How common is the finger-sticking? I give blood regularly and they've never used my finger. Instead the blood is sampled directly from the needle in my arm at the beginning of the process.
 
Mark me down for another whole blood @Doctor Q

The new intake process is so nice!! Seemed like it was faster, no finger prick for the hemoglobin check. I was in the building for maybe 45 minutes. Donation itself took less than 5 minutes.
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How common is the finger-sticking? I give blood regularly and they've never used my finger. Instead the blood is sampled directly from the needle in my arm at the beginning of the process.
Well, for almost 20 years, we didn't have to do it in plateletpheresis because the staff had an on-site blood lab that checked the samples for hemoglobin levels. Now we have to get poked in a finger to test hemoglobin levels.

In 2023, for cost savings, Canadian Blood Services in the Toronto Region removed the on-location labs and centralized them. Meaning, that the nurses no longer knew, during the donation process, the platelet count, and active hemoglobin count.
 
@Doctor Q I donated yesterday, whole blood. During some recent family gatherings the discussion of donating came up and my cousin decided to resume her donations, she donated on Tuesday.

I was in and out of the donation center in about 45 minutes. The donation itself only took 5 minutes, I hung around at the canteen for a few as I needed to kill some time.
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A warning to moviegoers

There's a comedy currently out in theaters named One of Them Days, starring Keke Palmer and SZA. It's funny, but be aware that one scene is in a blood donation center, where things don't go as planned.

It's NOT representative of real donation centers!
 
I use the Blood Donor app and am listed as being on the MR team. Is there a team admin that sees the donations on the app?

If not, then I’ll keep posting here. I donated a pint of blood this past Friday—my first of 2025.
 
It's worth mentioning that the long-time ban on US-based potential donors who lived in the UK and certain other European countries in the 80s and 90s was lifted in 2023. As a result, I was able to make my first donation in the US a couple of months ago and am scheduled for my next on May 16. I will post again with a screenshot once I've completed the process so I can be added to the MacRumors team.
Same here. They don’t care about mad cows anymore 😆
 
The site hosting our Team MacRumors page was down for a few days, due to technical problems, but it's back now.

Between now and April 30, 2025, please record your blood donations on our team page:

MacRumors Blood Drive 2024-2025

Provide your MacRumors user name and what you donated (e.g., 1 unit of whole blood), so we can include you in the next MacRumors Blood Drive.
 
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Ok, the blood app lets me login with no issues, but I can’t seem to do so at the MR team web page, even though I’m listed as a member on the app. Hmmmm.

So I’ll just drop my activity in here to be sure:

3/14/24: 1 unit whole blood
5/16/24: same
10/11/24: same
1/24/25: same
4/10/25: same (scheduled)

I’ll try to figure the login issue out so my donations are recorded automatically.
 
Going for my 100th donor recognition
Ceremony on Wednesday I haven’t donated
Since doing my 100th last year
Neil
 
TRALI Testing

Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI) is a rare and life-threatening condition that can affect recipients of donated platelets and plasma.

Medical studies found that TRALI could result when the antibodies responsible for TRALI are present in donated plasma, including the plasma that comes with platelets, from female donors who had been pregnant. Antibodies for TRALI pose no risk to the donor, only to the recipient.

In about 2009, many donation centers in the U.S. and U.K. started giving a screening test for TRALI antibodies to female platelet and plasma donors who had ever been pregnant, before they would be considered eligible to donate platelets or plasma. They'd repeat the test after any subsequent pregnancy.

TRALI is not an issue for blood, platelet, and plasma from male donors, or from female donors who have never been pregnant. And it's not an issue for blood donations from female donors.
 
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I donated whole blood 5 days ago. That makes 5 total units so far. My donation dates were:

4/25
1/25
11/24
5/24
3/24

I use the Blood app, and I show up as a member of the MacRumors Team. Just curious to know if there’s a team admin that sees the members and their numbers.
 

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TRALI Testing

Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI) is a rare and life-threatening condition that can affect recipients of donated platelets and plasma.

Medical studies found that TRALI could result when the antibodies responsible for TRALI are present in donated plasma, including the plasma that comes with platelets, from female donors who had been pregnant. Antibodies for TRALI pose no risk to the donor, only to the recipient.

In about 2009, many donation centers in the U.S. and U.K. started giving a screening test for TRALI antibodies to female platelet and plasma donors who had ever been pregnant, before they would be considered eligible to donate platelets or plasma. They'd repeat the test after any subsequent pregnancy.

TRALI is not an issue for blood, platelet, and plasma from male donors, or from female donors who have never been pregnant. And it's not an issue for blood donations from female donors.
Finally, someone explained why we lost all of my clinic's female donors around 2015. All we knew, as donors, was that if a female ever got pregnant, they produced antibodies that caused reactions in a small minority of patients. It's a condition called Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI).
 
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I gave last Saturday, June 21. It was pint number 128 lifetime.
Also supposed to get a $15 Amazon GC!

I also was not on the MR team, but I am now!
 

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Add one more for me and the MR team. I’m at a modest six now, with my next appointment already scheduled.
 

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