American Red Cross Blood Donation Center

Had a great experience donating platelets via single needle at this donation center. Sawyer was extremely attentive to my needs and skilled at getting into my hard to reach vein. I got spoiled with snacks and netflix:)

I have donated blood and platelets here a few times. The staff has been very kind and accommodating every time. That was the case up until this last time I came in for a Power Red donation, which is the main reason I'm leaving a review.

To sum up the story below, one of the workers, Enrique, poked me without warning, and then due to total negligence, caused an emergency that cut my donation short and left me with a totally preventable injury for the night.

I'm writing my first ever online review to say that I'm not coming back here and for anyone that does go to request that someone else help if they get Enrique.

LONG VERSION -
I was checked in and told to wait about 5 minutes until a staff member comes to get me. About 15 minutes pass before a member, Enrique (from his nametag), wordlessly walks over and gestures me to follow him to the bed. Setup took another 20 minutes (unusually long) before I'm handed a stressball. I am then poked without any verbal warning and told "release" - note that I was NEVER told to "squeeze". I point that out to him and he mutters "that's not good" and leaves without another word. (I'm fine with social awkwardness but already.just what the hell, not even a "sorry"?)

Some time passes and the apheresis machine then switches to injecting saline, as expected. A few minutes pass from there and I notice there's a ping-pong ball-sized swelling at the injection site. Enrique has not been in sight since he left and no one has checked in on me from the start. I call for help and other staff shut down the machine, tend to my arm, and have me wait in the recovery area - apparently the vein was missed and the saline was going straight into my arm. Again, a simple "sorry" or any communication would have gone a long way from Enrique, who only showed up after I was all taken care of.

I'm ordinarily very cool-headed but the whole situation left me pretty mad. The whole donation was a bust. Literally any kind of check-in would have clued the guy in on this issue. Not to mention that it hurt quite a bit and I couldn't use my arm for the rest of the night.

Feel terrible about giving a low rating but been here twice to give blood and both experiences have made me prefer San Diego Blood Bank instead. Even though red cross gives better incentives. The first time they were so behind on appointments that a few people started leaving after waiting 45 min after checking in. On top of that, the skill of the nurse was lacking as the needle was incorrectly placed near a valve thus the blood flow was jumping all over the place. The second time was much less crowded however this time they missed the vein, tried to fix it, resulting in a half a bag wasted donation and a huge bruise. If you're trying to donate blood go to San Diego Blood Bank instead.

Alejandra my technician who helped me was AMAZING! She was so nice and kind the entire time. It's because of people like her that makes me want to come back to this location.