World Traveler? Forget the Bloodmobile
August 7th, 2008 Posted in General, International living/working, Long-term travel, MSNBC - Tripso columns, Making a difference
It’s not just gay heroin addicts from Gabon who get shown the door at the bloodmobile. If you are a world traveler, your blood is probably not wanted, at least by the American Red Cross anyway.
My latest Tripso column was borne out of my own experiences trying to donate blood on multiple occasions and the frustrations of people I know who were turned away. World traveler? You may not be wanted at the blood bank. (Here’s the MSNBC version.)
Basically the only time I was successful giving blood was when I had stayed in the U.S. for a long stretch when my daughter was first born. Once you look at the restrictions, you see that the ideal Red Cross donor is a hetero person married to their high school sweetheart who lives a pure life, has never slept with someone from Africa, and never travels outside the country. If you’re a reader of this blog I’m assuming that’s probably not you, so read the article and check the website at the end for problem areas if you want to avoid wasting a trip.
4 Responses to “World Traveler? Forget the Bloodmobile”
By Marie Javins on Aug 7, 2008
I know what you mean. They never want my blood either. But they keep calling me anyway, which is really annoying.
By Joe Alexander on Aug 7, 2008
Yeah, and you can totally forget it if you’ve ever had malaria (like me).
By jamie on Aug 8, 2008
Or if you’ve taken a malaria prophylactic in the past few years, I think.
By Suz on Aug 11, 2008
@ Marie - YES!!! Seriously, if you turn me away more than 3 times you need to take me off your ‘call and try again’ list because you’re no longer a priority for me…