It is impossible to give a lower rating to a place that helps and saves lives like the humble Red Cross Blood Donor Centre. Red Cross Hong Kong has 11 donation centers, 2 mobile ones.
The Central location is government owned and offered to the Red Cross to carry out their services. I saw an ad saying they were low on Blood types O and A, so after failing a few times for different reasons, I finally succeeded in helping out at Central center, one of their older locations. This was how it goes:
1. Walk in, nurse will give you a clipboard to fill in some basic info, and health history.
2. After you return the board, they will do a quick blood test with a finger prick, which hurts ever so slightly.
3. You'll go back to your seat while they go over your blood test. This is where I failed before - the finger prick test identified I had low hemoglobin levels that day (Male levels should be 13-19)
4. A nurse calls your name, and you go into a room where she goes through the form with you. This is another instance where I failed - there are certain countries that you cannot have been within 12 months of donation). They also decide whether you will donate with your left or right arm here.
5. If you pass #3 and #4, which most people do, you are ushered back to the waiting area to await donation.
6. Donation! You are taken to a reclining sofa, given something to squeeze (to increase blood flow) in your donating arm. Nurse inserts the needle, which surprisingly hardly hurts, and you keep squeezing to keep the blood moving. 10-15mins later you are done.
7. Back to the waiting area for some drinks and biscuits.
8. They will return you your blood donation card, with your next donation date. And congratulations, you are officially a life saver!
The whole process takes less than 1 hour; there was a wait when I went to Central but other centers I've been to are less busy. And I think the nurses are super skilled, because the whole thing actually hardly hurt, Save some lives now!
Few things to note before and after donation, on the Red Cross website:
http://www5.ha.org.hk/rcbts/enarticle.asp?bid=14&MenuID=3#.V2Jr59R95QI read more