On the Africa Mercy, our crew is our blood bank. All the blood that is transfused to the patients comes from the people who volunteer to work on the ship. Last week was a busy blood week! We had one patient who took 9 units (that's a lot!) and others who also needed blood. We in the lab were trying to replenish our supply, but by yesterday, the refrigerator was looking a bit on the empty side.
A patient was having surgery yesterday, and our blood bank was running low! We knew we needed to schedule some donors for today, so I went around and stuck little notes on cabin doors.
Then the call came from the operating room that our patient needed another unit of blood. My co-worker in the lab, Michelle, is O pos, and had been screened. So at 9 pm last night, we were working overtime!
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| Who has the better job? |
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The happy donor
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So today Michelle and Claudia drew lots of blood. We had 12 people for screening, and they also drew 7 units of blood. Then I went around and put some more little notes on cabin doors. We hope we're ready for the facial tumor surgery tomorrow!
Debbie
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