Attention JCCC4 Blood Donors!
I posted this to the FB group, but some of you aren't on Facebook so I thought I should mention it here, too: we just found out that anyone who has traveled to any part of Haiti is automatically deferred from donating blood for a full year. That's even if you're only there one day and even if you don't get off the ship. This is because Haiti is a malaria zone.
Josh mentioned trying to get a Bloodmobile to the JoCoTel the day before the cruise departs so anyone interested can get in one last donation before being deferred; sounds like a great idea to me if there's enough interest.
Josh mentioned trying to get a Bloodmobile to the JoCoTel the day before the cruise departs so anyone interested can get in one last donation before being deferred; sounds like a great idea to me if there's enough interest.
Comments
There have not been a ton of transfusion-related malaria cases in the U.S., but the idea that two-thirds of them could have been prevented raised my eyebrows.
I also learned that, while malaria can be terrible, a lot of people who don't live somewhere that malaria is endemic wind up, at first, with a mild, flu-like presentation that is often written off as a minor illness and not malaria.