For my third time donating platelets, I wanted to check out LifeSouth's Northeast Georgia Center in…read moreGainesville, which is actually much closer to my house than the Greater Atlanta Center in Dunwoody (18 miles north vs. 34 miles south). After you donate at least once to LifeSouth, an employee will call you at least once a month to see if you can make time to come in to donate again.
Since there is a high demand for platelets yet a small number of willing donors, they want regular donors to be able to supply blood and blood components to local hospitals in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. According to LifeSouth's website, "Platelets help patients with bleeding disorders caused by leukemia and cancer treatment, or open-heart surgery."
This time, I made a 10 am appointment for a Monday for me and my sister (Yoomee H.) to donate platelets. I specifically wanted us to have the same time slot so that we could start and end around the same time. Unfortunately, things did not occur as planned for my third time donating platelets...
We arrived a couple minutes before 10 am, and we were checked in by a very friendly woman at the front desk. She told us that they were happy yet surprised to have us there to donate platelets because they "weren't expecting us," even though I had made the appointment the previous week.
To make a very, VERY long story short, we both waited over an hour before we were able to even have our initial blood test and interview, which must be done every time before you donate blood, platelets, or other blood components. After we finally had our interviews, we had to wait another hour or so to get started with the donation process. This was incredibly frustrating. When we checked in, we were warned that they were understaffed that day, but they did not indicate that we would have to wait THAT long!
The phlebotomist who performed the platelet collection on both me and my sister was very sweet, but it was obvious that she was incredibly flustered about being the only person taking care of us as well as a whole blood donor. She had difficulty locating the vein in my left arm, which I usually have the donation done through, and even punctured it in the wrong spot. So eventually, she drew the donation through my right arm - and both of my arms had to be bandaged at the end. =( Arghhh...
Like the donor center in Dunwoody, the platelet donor seats are pretty comfortable, they provide you with a blanket and heating pad under your arm (because it gets cold), and you get your own TV and remote to occupy your time. And unlike the Dunwoody center, this one has a decent library of DVDs if you want to watch a movie while you're donating, or you can bring your own! I picked a DVD to watch, but the phlebotomist forgot to turn mine on for me. Fortunately, I brought a book to read while I was donating for about an hour and a half.
Overall, this LifeSouth Community Blood Center gets 2.5 stars - minus 2.5 stars for the ridiculously long wait to even get started because they were so understaffed. I was not happy that I had to spend over 4 hours at the donor center and get punctured in both arms. I have to mention, however, that the staff was super friendly, welcoming, and apologetic, and I really appreciated this. Although they assured us that they usually don't operate this way, I'm sorry to say that I simply can't bring myself to return to this location. I will drive further to the Dunwoody location, which is the main location in Atlanta, for my future donations to LifeSouth.
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