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Forum - View topicNEWS: Voice Actors Request Help with Blood Drive
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10460 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Two requests. If you aren't going to go donate, please don't express your sympathies / support etc. It does nothing to help them (donate!) and 200 identical "oh that poor child" posts does not make for good conversation.
If you want to support the cause, but don't live in LA, expressing your support for them here doesn't do anything but flood the forum. Go donate blood to your local hospital or red cross, or send them money. If you really want to add that personal touch, send a letter or e-mail to the Lee's they might very well appreciate it, but again, this isn't the place. Second request: Please not questions about why they should get the VIP treatment. I'm sure there are lots of other children in the world with similar needs, if you want to help those children, by all means, please do. It does not invalidate the Lee's need for help. Perhaps (hopefully) if more than enough is donated for this child, the excess will be given to other LA area children. -t |
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Starwind Amada
Posts: 981 Location: Easton, PA, USA |
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You know you could just lock the thread if you don't want any responses? I mean, people will still see it.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Someone could post good hospitals to go to or talk about their experiences giving blood or something. We're just trying to avoid 6 pages of "oh that poor kid  " because it just doesn't accomplish anything at all.
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MeggieMay
 Posts: 607 |
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Well here's a question that's kind of on-topic (I hope). Are there many charities supported by anime fandom in general? I have to admit I've not seen any mention in the past but I may not have been active in anime fandom long or simply missed seeing something. Anyway, if there aren't many charities supported in this fandom, blood donation might be one to think about. Because if they are having problems in L.A. getting enough blood and platelets donated at the moment, then it is most likely a problem in other parts of the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world
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I do know that in other fandoms (like SFTV & General SF) that there are charities which are supported by artists, writers, and actors, that fans give money to or raise money for. Actually, at one time blood donation was a big charity in General SF fandom by way of author Robert Heinlein, who supported the effort. However, since his death I've seen a decline in interest in giving blood via SF fandom, though I do admit that could be more a case of my not hanging out with those in fandom who are still donating these days. Anyway, the Lee's request for blood donations made me think to ask about this. As for donating blood personally - I've done it in the past but I'm currently on medications that make me think I'd probably not be a good donor  .
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xstylus
 Posts: 272 |
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Any potential donors out there in the Anaheim area interested in carpooling to the hospital on Thursday?
Contact me and we'll coordinate something. Last edited by xstylus on Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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As a longtime blood donor (57 times so far - that's about three hefty buckets full of blood
 ), I continually proselytize on this subject. Everyone who is healthy and able ought to donate blood, at least once in their life. It's a basic moral "price of admission" - without it, you're just a (potential or actual) parasite on the good works of others.
If you're antsy about needles, or squeamish about the thought of bleeding - think of it as a rite of passage, something that proves you've got what it takes to do the right thing despite your own weaknesses. Not to start ranting here, but... I'm slightly unfamiliar with the details of the American blood donor system, though I gather that it is as disorganised and haphazard as the U.S. medical system is in general (by which I mean, of course, that it is the natural outcome of a laissez-faire capitalist aristocracy, as opposed to an enlightened socialist democracy  ), but in my native Denmark, blood donations are handled on a national level by an all-volunteer society, Bloddonorerne i Danmark, which has 233 thousand members (out of a total population of 5.4 million people). The volunteers get no compensation for their efforts (well, there is a system of honorary items, such as lapel pins - bronze pin at 15 donations, silver at 25, and gold at 50 - and a pelican statuette at 100 donations). It's all very Boy Scout-y.
According to the provisions of the system, blood products in Denmark may not be made the subject of a for-profit sale. The gift of blood from the donor to the recipient is uncompensated, and may not be turned into a profit, even when exporting blood products (which Denmark frequently does, in times of surplus production). - abunai |
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MeggieMay
Posts: 607 |
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Well I think the blood donation system in the U.S. is a bit more originized than you may think it is. As far as I can tell (never looked up the details), most blood donations are free donations, usually through the American Red Cross - though there are other charities that deal with blood donation. Then there are also places that pay for people to donate blood but I have to admit that I've actually not had first hand experience with them. I just know they exist through the news media and TV shows that they do exist (which may be how you know they exist, as well
 ).
As to nationalizing things - take it from someone who lives in the U.S., you just don't stick the Federal goverment in charge of things and expect them to work in the best possible ways  . The U.S. also has a long tradtion of private charities doing things like blood donation, disaster relief, et al. It is also a very large country (you could put quite a few Denmarks into the U.S., landwise) and then there are issues between the States and the Federal goverment that often hinder things.
Anyway, this is getting totally off topic. The main thing that seems to keep people from giving blood in the U.S. isn't lack of compenstation but health fears and the long list of things that can make it so you can't donate blood, like AIDS, STDs, Hepatitis exposure, and other health issues that make it so you can't give blood. In my case I flunked my blood glucose test last week (that's the test were they prick your finger and check your blood sugar levels) and had to start taking medication for low blood sugar, which I'm pretty sure cuts me out of giving blood (my boarderline blood sugar reading finally fell off the boarder)  .
That said the Red Cross does a good job, at least in my area, trying to get blood donations. They have a big van/bus they take town to town and several times a year they set up days for people to come to them to give them blood locally (and you usually get get cookies and juice when you're done). So while the U.S. has problems with getting people to donate, it doesn't seem connected to the general healthcare situation in the U.S. (plenty of other things that can be put on those steps but not the blood shortage per se, IMO). |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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You can't pick on a health care system you know nothing about. There are several ways to give blood in America. One way is to go to a hospital and tell them you want to donate to a blood bank. However, more popularly is to give out blood at blood drives and blood centers. In the case of blood drives, oftentimes The Red Cross (or another charity) will bring a professional staff of nurses and set up an area inside a school gym or a lecture hall or some other large gathering and have several stations where you can donate blood. There is a very thorough check of all people who wish to donate blood. All donors are screened beforehand rigorously, and only those who qualify are allowed to give blood. Not only do they have to be pathogen free, but they have to had not been ill in the past month or so, been drug-free, been out of the country, yada yada. (Those who don't pass the test but still want to donate blood can do so by marking their blood as "research only.") Only then can they donate blood. After each person's blood is collected, it is screened again for diseases, problems, etc, and if there's even a hint of anything out of order, it is tossed out. Then, once all the blood is pooled together in banks sorted by phenotype, it is continuously tested again over set intervals after that, and if it is found to be disastisfactory, the entire pool is thrown out. The Red Cross is a non-profit organization, and does not make any money off its efforts, nor are people paid to donate blood. (There are separate for-profit companies who collect plasma, etc, and for those, you have to go to a center and be hooked up to a rather complex machine.) The reason why it is privatized is because experience has shown us that private organizations do better than federal institutions. Just because your government hands out fruity pins doesn't mean it's automatically superior to one that doesn't have a Boy Scout system. The sale of all organs (including blood) is illegal in the US, and many times, unless a rare case warrants it, the usage of organs across country borders is illegal. US hospitals will not accept blood from other countries, nor will it allow people who have recently been in other countries donate blood. The safety of blood in the US has gone up to the point that the percentage of contamination possible is at 0.001%. Even so, the government has pledged to spend an unlimited amount of money to anything that can make it even more safe. (Right now, it is prepared to spend millions of dollars to eradicate the possibility of prions in the blood supply, something that cannot be easily tested for with current tests.) There are many people who would like to give blood, but for whatever reason, are not able to. It's not that they are afraid of needles or something, but the Red Cross will not allow them to donate because it will contaminate their blood supply. When I get a blood transfusion, I'd rather know that my blood is as clean and pure as it can be, rather than get a bloody pin for whenever I donate. Now you have been enlightened on the "haphazard and disorganised" practices of the US medical system. Good day. |
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Ataru
 Posts: 2327 Location: Missouri (Strikeman) |
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For the fellow world traveler, make sure you tell the person that is doing your interview where you been, I think, in the last 5 years and how long. Like in my case, I can't give blood for a year after I came back from Iraq. I don't know if there was any changes, like time after return and what type of medication you were give to prevent you from catching anything nasty on your trip (I got a small pox and anthrax shots). This is important because you don't want to give something, like small pox, to someone. I usually give blood at least every 5 to 6 months, and "looking forward" to the needle in March.
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darcerin
Posts: 330 |
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I'd just like to add here something I've learned from donating blood:
If you were overseas in the 80's for an extended period of time, like my family and I were, you cannot give blood anymore, for fear of Mad Cow disease rearing it's ugly head. Apparently it can appear in a human YEARS after having been exposed to it. My main reason for not being able to give any more is that I faint 10-30 minutes after giving blood, stop breathing, and when I "come back" I start throwing up. They told me not to come back after the second time that happened. I'd love to help out too, I'm an O neg.
But please, if you're healthy, do please consider even making a stop off at your local hospital. Don't wait for a blood drive in your area. |
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Super Arrow
 Posts: 334 Location: Australia |
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I gave blood a few...months...ago and I plan to do so again within the next 2 or so weeks.
Everyone should do it, since it was so much fun...well...for me anyway. Poor Jessi somehow screwed up her first needle and had to get one in her other arm. But on the positive side...my iron count is higher-than-average and we got banana-chip muffins afterwards. |
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Pithy. Handily avoids addressing the actual words.
Go back and read (I stress the word "read" - not "react to") my post. I never claimed to be ignorant of the U.S. health care system, just "slightly unfamiliar" with the way blood donations are handled.
Hmm. You know, that is a strangely seductive rhetorical gimmick. I'll have to make sure I don't give in to it... again.
Ah, see, you didn't read my post. I knew it. The donation system in Denmark is entirely in the hands of a volunteer organisation, whose expenses are paid by a government subsidy. It's not government-run, and never will be.
I'll refrain from touching upon your faith-based argument that private organisations do better than government organisations. I try never to mess with people's religious beliefs.
You'll notice my post made no mention at all as to the safeguards in place to protect the blood supply in Denmark. Now, I wonder, could that be because there are none? Or because I didn't find that germane to the subject? I see that it didn't stop you from putting up blood safety as a straw man argument for you to knock down.
They're no less haphazard and disorganised because of your spirited defense. Good day. - abunai |
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Tempest
I Run this place. ANN Publisher Posts: 10460 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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I wouldn't call it "faith based." The US Government has proven itself quite incompetent at doing things that other first world governments are quite capable of doing. So recognizing that private institutions do a better job (in the USA) is a necessity. American's fervent dislike of "big-government" may seem silly to outsiders (despite understanding it, it seems silly to me), but, well, would you want the US government in charge of anything your life depended on? But it's also worth pointing out that the United States is the most populous "rich country" in the world (Only China and India have more people, and they aren't rich in the same way that Denmark and the USA are). Organising something across 300 million people is much harder than doing it across 5.4 million. And the USA does what it needs to do with a lower per-capita budget than most other "rich" countries. In many ways, Denmark is more akin to Rhode Island than the USA, where Europe would be akin to the USA (both are a decentralized federation of states, one just more decentralised than the other). And the European government isn't impressing anyone with its efficiency.... -t |
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GATSU
Posts: 15567 |
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tempest:
Well, China and India are certainly "rich" in the sense that they're contributing to our trade deficit, due to our manufacturing and technical industries having been outsourced to them.
Actually, it's been statistically proven that the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other country with socialized medicine, and yet it covers less people. Cited from a 2004 Washington Post article: Although they spend more on health care than patients in any other industrialized nation, Americans receive the right treatment less than 60 percent of the time, resulting in unnecessary pain, expense and even death, according to a study released yesterday. From preventive care such as flu shots to complicated surgery for heart conditions, patients are largely missing out on scientifically proven, lifesaving care regardless of where they live or whether they have health insurance, Rand Corp. researchers found in their analysis of 7,000 adults in 12 representative communities. Although the researchers had previously documented a widespread pattern of uneven or poor quality care, the new analysis found that cities with higher income levels, fewer uninsured residents or more world-renowned medical institutions fared no better than communities with fewer advantages... ...The journal packaged the study with a second one reinforcing the finding that although Americans spend far more per capita on medicine, their health is not noticeably better than that of people in other countries. The five-year study by the Commonwealth Fund found wide gaps in how the United States and four other countries performed on such measures as breast cancer and leukemia deaths, asthma deaths, suicide rates and cancer screening... There's also more information here. But Bush hates black people, so it's everyone for themselves. |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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You're right, that does get rather addictive. Let's not assume that my response was a "spirited" rally for the American Red Cross, or anything of the sort. I'm merely pointing out the dry facts, since you said that you were unfamiliar with them. My innocent jab at blood safety wasn't anything more of attacking a straw man than was your (I assume) just as innocent comment about the haphazard and disorganised medical system in the US. In fact, as background, my comment was fueled by actual Red Cross practices of not allowing blood to cross the borders, and not allowing blood from donors who have been in foreign countries. Whether or not that means that the blood in your country is less safe or not, I don't know, but I can only assume that if you are "slightly unfamiliar" with medical practices in the US, that I would be allowed the same convenience regarding medical practices in Denmark.
What a quaint put-down. It's more than just a faith-based argument. The US has always struggled with government-run organizations, and many local districts have started contracting private companies to handle certain issues like sanitation, water safety, and the like. It's no secret that many government-run organizations have slowly shifted to private enterprise, just because it's been found that those, in the US, perform better. However, I'll refrain from prolonging this point any longer. There's no need for me to continue discussing local politics and government practices with those who might be slightly unfamiliar with them.
And you, good sir, are no less a pompous dick. Good night. |
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