American Red Cross-Oregon Trail Chapter

This was my first time ever donating blood. I’ve got a major fear of needles so, what better way to start the new year than conquering ones fears. So, I went on their website and scheduled an appointment to donate some precious life force.
The day of the appointment I was super nervous, but all the staff members I came across were super helpful and kind. The donation went great and not even a bruise! If/​when I decide to donate again, I will definitely return!

I have donated close to two gallons, but question the quality control of the people taking blood.
Twice I have had blown blood veins. I advised the staff on the front end but… well the picture tells the story-​but they do not allow mew to post one here so I will on Facebook. This is 48 hours after donating. The bruise will likely reach my wrist in 12 more hours. Presently I have a deep 5″ by 5″ bruise.
When I call the 800 number I get two snotty nurses.
Not a great picture here either. I will continue to donate blood but not because of the Red Cross.

I wanted to donate for the first time since coming from California, but discovered that United Blood Services isn’t in this state. So instead I made an online appointment to donate at this Red Cross branch. Picked an appointment, got all my confirmations in order, went down to the facility, and they start telling me about how I’m not scheduled and they’re super understaffed today. They were giving off an odd vibe in talking to me too, as if I was growing another head or something. And after they told me about how the phone and online appointment systems are messed up, they tell me to write down my name and number for then to call me later. I guess in person scheduling and walk-​ins aren’t as available as advertised. Maybe I can update this to be more positive when they actually let me donate, but I’m unimpressed with how this branch is run so far.

In over 300 reviews and Iv’e given out a 1 star review just 1 other time! A business has to be border line flopping on customer satisfaction to earn 1. So you have to be a real bozo to earn a 1 star. But today I found the clown at Red Cross.
I am a therapeutic blood donor. I have hereditary hemochromatosis. My body accumulates and stores iron. So I need phlebotomy (remove 1 pint blood) about every 3 months to maintain a healthy liver and other organs.
On my last 2 appointments, the same Red Cross nurse assisted me. She was unwilling to follow standard practices for checking my blood pressure. I have a predisposition for higher blood pressure. If my blood pressure is too high, Red Cross policy will not remove a pint of blood. Consequently, I failed the blood pressure test and was refused my treatment.
I tried to inform the nurse of the best practice in the medical profession which shows that the elbow is held at heart level for a proper blood pressure measurement. Data shows (and I have done this many times myself) that blood pressure will be on the average at least 10% higher if elbow is below heart level.
Well, the Red Cross nurse would not cooperate and keep my elbow up at heart level. She said she could not read the measurement that way. Also, she says «I follow the procedure by Medical Director» (in Pomona California). So this nurse was «so insensitive» to my concerns – her patient. I was rattled. My blood pressure was too high. Again, I was refused the phlebotomy.
In the short term, I will be ok missing 1 phlebotomy. But in the long run, extra iron builds up in several organs, especially the liver, and can cause serious damage. Without treatment, the disease can cause these organs to fail. You know how this story will end – «10 feet under ground.»
But I take heart! True, my iron level is too high. So I’m saying goodbye to Red Cross and will go to a medical clinic with a hematologist and nursing staff that is sensitive to their patients medical condition and concerns.
I hope that the Red Cross on Vancouver will contact me and let me share with them the proper procedure for measuring blood pressure. I will point them to the National Library of Medicine, American Heart Association, Mayo Clinic, other creditable sources, etc. Google it!
Arms up – all nurses! Get it? Nurses should get it! It is how they have been trained!

I didn’t give blood here. I should’ve, but instead my son volunteered here for a few days this week. This review concerns our experience here.
The first thing we did was attend a two hour orientation in which you learn a lot about things the Red Cross does other than blood drives.
My son was guided each step of the way as he worked in the warehouse packing boxes for people in need, and putting sandwich boards together that will bring volunteers in and hopefully motivate people to give blood and other things as the whole world can use our help throughout any given year (Nepal anyone?)
The women I met were friendly, inclusive, supportive and encouraging — a great experience for a teenager or adult. It’s a good thing to get off the Xbox or social media, and think about what’s going on on the rest of the world. It’s just ongoing lessons in how to help other humans no matter where they are. Thanks for all you do Red Cross, and thanks for letting my son be a small part of it this week.

The staff and volunteers are friendly, and they do good things here. However, they work behind schedule 100%of the time. The last two times I came to donate I arrived early and checked in, then left a half hour after my appointment was supposed to start. Now I’m on try number three, but it’s 2:45, 15 minutes after my appointment was supposed to begin. I’ve donated over two gallons of blood, but my continued negative experiences with Red Cross are putting me off continuing to donate. We will see if I even make it to the chair today. I seriously do not understand the point of making appointment times, if they never follow them. It is very frustrating.

First time donating in Oregon. I had previously donated three gallons of blood during my time in Texas, so it was time to start a new chapter.
I will admit this is my first time in a long time donating to the Red Cross. In the Dallas/​Fort Worth area we had Carter Blood Care, so that’s where I went to give blood.
Talking with the nurses they have all sorts of electronic scanning they have to do now, so it slows down the process greatly. Plan on spending some time here. I went as a walk-​in and didn’t wait too long, but once inside, I was there for a while. The blood donation itself was fast, the process was not. The nurses know this and make you comfortable. Plus free cookies and juice when you are done.
It’s a good thing to do, so go donate some blood, you could save a life.

I have been a regular donor for a while now and have never had any issues with telemarketing or donation calls. There have been some changes in procedures over the past few months but I haven’t had any issues with getting in and donating.
Sometimes the screening can be a bit tedious but that is usually because the attendants are working with other donors who need extra time or it is busy.
I like that I can plan my appointment ahead of time and change as needed. The only thing that I would change would be with the website but that is a whole other review.

They blew it again at the main blood center — I was out of town when my workspace blood drive happened, so I made an appointment. I was checked in, and seated in a full waiting room. After 20 minutes, there was absolutely no activity in screening ANY of the people waiting. I was informed that they had completely changed their procedures earlier in the week, but had not made any changes to the number of donors being scheduled. Having only one half of the parties honoring an appointment is worthless. I was asked for my number by the supervisor on site, and told that they would follow up on their procedure situation. I never heard a word. I believe in making blood donations, but the people scheduling at the main donor center do not care about their donors. I have had universally excellent experiences at workplace donations — I suggest that everyone look for these opportunities.

I really hate to say this, but I will never again donate blood to the American Red Cross. After donating at a company blood drive 9 months ago (while I was in Portland on business), I have been hounded mercilessly with phone calls asking for repeat donations. I’ve tried to explain that I live 1,000 miles away and will only donate once a year at my home location… but the calls keep coming; at least 4 – 5 a week.
These hyper-​aggressive telemarketing practices have completely turned me off. Donate if you wish, but be prepared to get hounded almost daily for the rest of your natural born life.

The Red Cross is one of those standout non-​profit that really excels in what they do. No, they’re not perfect, and any large non-​profit will have their scandals, but overall when you consider all of their medical training, emergency preparedness, disaster relief, and blood/​plasma/​platelet donation services, they do a ton of good in our community and throughout the nation.
— If you’re not trained/​certified in CPR or first aid, consider taking the class.
— If you’re eligible to donate blood/​plasma/​platelets, seriously consider trying it even if you’re scared; it’s not nearly as scary or painful as most people think it may be. The need is fairly constant and for a little time you can seriously SAVE LIVES. Make sure you check the exclusion criteria before wasting time scheduling an appointment (recent piercings, tattoos, travel to certain countries, and certain medications/​medical conditions can exclude you from donating).
— If you have extra time, consider volunteering to help their regular services or just if they need help during emergencies.
Check out their website to get a better idea of the wide array of services they offer!

Guess what? I discovered I’m O-​Positive!
Do you know your blood type? If not, I highly recommend finding out by giving blood. The staff at the Oregon chapter in NE Portland are super friendly and make your blood giving experience a good one. It’s a simple process and it’s right up there with voting in the «things you should do» category of life.
When you arrive, they ask you read the standard info then answer some questions to make sure your blood is safe to give to others. Then they lead you to the room where you actually give the blood, and before you know it, you’ve squeezed that little ball so much the bag is nearly overflowing! The best part? The snacks afterwards. I swear it’s the only time I ever eat Cheez-​its.

Make an appointment. You would think that it would be able to handle traffic, but they are really not set up for walk-​ins. I tried to give blood but the wait was well over an hour at 6pm on a Tuesday. They let me know that they just aren’t set up to handle walk-​in traffic and I really should make an appointment and come back on another evening. I let them know that I live nowhere near the office and was just in the area for something else. They apologized, but it just wasn’t happening.
The building is dark and kinda weird after normal hours. Not sure if I will bother trying to give blood here again or just hunt down my local blood-​mobile.

Very knowledgable employees and volunteers occupy the offices and classrooms.
I took a CPR/​First Aid/​AED course there and it was so informative as well as useful! They also do blood donation here. I’ve only done it once (and I squealed like a baby) but when I get the courage to do it again, I’ll definitely go back.
Everyone I met here was super helpful and very nice.
If you’ve not taken a First Aid or CPR course, I highly suggest you should. The combined class is about $ 80/​$ 90 but totally worth it. EVERYONE should get certified. A couple weeks after my certification I witnessed a bicyclist get struck by a car. I was a first responder and all the first aid I learned helped the victim. I was so proud of myself to be able to help someone. You never know when you’ll need to physically help someone.

Friendly staff, easy process. Needles scare me but I did it for a good cause. Orange juice! Yay!

This is a review of the first aid/​CPR training I have taken at this location. My job requires that I maintain a constant certification in both areas, so the Red Cross and I are old friends.
I have been consistently impressed with the instructors. Somehow, they always manage to strike a balance between being funny and interesting vs. serious and informative. They are hard-​nosed on essential details but manage to make the experience as non-​stressful as possible. Great job!
Also nice is that there is a cafeteria and atrium and coffee stand, which makes for a pleasant lunch during a long day of training.

I’ve always had a good experience with the Red Cross when they come to my campus for our college blood drives, and now that it’s summer, I’m happy to drive up here to keep up my donations. The staff were so friendly and patient, and they make the process quick and painless.
I went with a group of friends on Saturday morning. We scheduled an appointment the Thursday before. I was surprised to see so many people donating blood early Saturday morning, and during the Rose parade nonetheless! We didn’t have to wait long at all to be taken in for the screening, or between screening and the actual donating part. The guy who took my blood (Jason) was so funny, too! Everyone working there seemed pretty happy to be there, telling jokes to each other and to the donators, and making it feel like a pleasure to drain away your life’s energy!
I already made an appointment to go away in eight weeks; and by the end of the year, I’ll have made it to the one gallon mark! Then I get a shiny new lapel pin!

As terrible as I feel giving this place such a poor rating, I can’t believe this place allows people to make appointments and they still encourage walk ins when they obviously have too much to handle.
Yes, I understand that many people get deferred, but not even being screened until 11am when my appointment was at 10am is overkill. I wonder if they realize blood donors have lives too and possibly other commitments, and maybe that’s why the donor made an appointment so he or she would be out in time.
Terrible, I’ve donated plenty in my life and this is the worst service (in relation to time) over had thus far. The staff was friendly otherwise.
Once I got into the donation room, I was appalled to see more empty beds than full ones as well.
I’ve only donated on Saturday, maybe it’s better during the week?

I wanted to review the volunteers at the Red Cross. I just hit the two gallon mark Thanksgiving eve.
Every volunteer at the Red Cross is awesome! They are very polite, very attentive, cheerful, supportive, and grateful.
If you haven’t experienced the crew at the Red Cross blood donation center, try it! You might like it!

Odd Item to review, I know. But I was reminded today of my love of donation centers. I love the people from different walks of life to come together to do something like donate blood. As a long time donor, I realize that donation is kind of a… strange thing to do. There are no physical benefits. It can take a long time. But for some reason, people feel compelled to do it. Enough people that there can actually be a wait at this center. However, the staff is friendly and apologetic if there is a wait. The waiting room is comfortable. The donation chairs are even comfortable.
There is no better social anthropology experience either. Today I donated next to a man who was reading Guns ‘n Ammo and listened to him wax poetic about his trusty Reuger. I shared a juice and cookie table with a woman who humored me with my conversation about how «this is REALLY the only time it is acceptable to eat Oreo cookies.» I even convinced her to put down that box of raisins and partake.
If you are into the whole Valentine’s Day thing and don’t have a date, please please go give blood. I’m dying to hear a story about people who met and fell in love while donating. And besides, Dylan and Brenda did it on 90 210 so it can’t be all bad. Plus, there are seriously worse places to spend your evening than with the friendly nurses and staff at this center. Free snacks and soda fountain too!