San Diego Blood Mobile

I should have always been checking in for as long as I can remember.
I’m actually registered on their Gallon Club.
It’s the easiest thing to do donating blood (if you’re healthy) and I know it’s always needed!
The staff has always been Top Notch, friendly as well as funny too!

NBC News has been advertising all week long on the news asking people to come to the mobile blood bank behind their studios for San Diego’s summer campaign.
I made an appointment during my lunch hour and went. Went through all the necessary hoops… questionnaire and individual screening (which took time because I had some ‘yes’ questions that the guy doing the intake didn’t know how to handle and had to look them up), blood pressure, pin prick to make sure my iron was fine… and then because I can only donate out of one of my arms, I was sent to the second mobile bus since the one that I was in originally did not have a left-​arm chair available.
So all of this takes about 45 minutes. I get into the second mobile bus and one look at my veins and I’m told I was too dehydrated to donate. WTH?! I have a scale at home that not only tracks my weight, but also tracks my hydration level. I KNOW I wasn’t dehydrated.
And therein lies my ‘complaint’. Had I gone into the REAL Blood Bank that was staffed with more experienced people, I wouldn’t have encountered this «you are dehydrated and your veins are crap» scenario.
Then they couldn’t get rid of me fast enough. Sorry SDBB… you kind of suck! I wasted 45 minutes of my lunch hour because your mobile employees don’t want to break a sweat. I guess only burly guys with humongous veins are welcome at the mobile blood bank :-(

I have gotten lazy and hardly ever go to the Blood Bank on Upas to donate blood any more. Now I just wait for the Blood Mobile to come around. Fortunately, there are blood drives at my Church quarterly, and there is always the annual Charger’s Blood Drive down at the Town & Country every November.
But I was a bad girl and forget about that so I promised myself, the next Blood Mobile in my hood, I would let them hook me up and drain some good O+ out of me. Yesterday up at Balboa and Genesee in Clairemont, I finally fulfilled my obligation. Blood Mobiles are the way to go for sure. Also, if you can, try and get online and make an appointment before hand. Then you can walk right up and get right in – no waiting. Just like the DMV, I would never think about going to the Blood Mobile without a prior appointment.
Once inside, they ask you a bunch of health questions-​like if you have had sex for money recently? The easily-​offended may get easily offended here.
Then they take you into this little room and poke your finger to draw some blood and measure your iron levels. If they are too low, it’s a no go. Finally after a temperature reading and blood pressure cuffing, it’s time to go find a vein for some blood-​letting.
Now my veins are very small and my rule of thumb is two pokes of the needle and then I’m out the door. I always seek out the most experienced phlebotomist, who can dig out a good vein in me. Also my blood flow is slow so I take a little longer than some people. I have been in enough medical studies where they drew my blood for tests, that I am pretty good a showing the juiciest veins. After the blood-​letting, your arm is wrapped tight with a bandage and you are escorted into the little holding area in the back of the bus and given free water, juice, soda and snacks to bring your blood sugar levels back up. Usually you are expected to hang out for 15 minutes or so.
Even for the squeamish, such as myself, it is not so terrible here. But I always bring a magazine or book to cover my eyes so I don’t see what is really going on around me.
Next time you are feeling like you might want to do something nice for someone else, the traveling Blood Mobiles seem like a good place to stop and do just that.