Anita went to the hospital to go with Karen to give blood because Luis must have blood donated or paid for before they will do his surgery. If a patient can’t bring in people to donate blood, then the patient has to “hire” someone in the parking lot – people stand around waiting – and pay them $50 to go in to the hospital and donate blood. The villagers in our area only earn about $80 a month, so paying $50 per unit (and Luis needs two units) is a very real hardship.
At another hospital Anita had been told that because she is over 50 (barely) she is “too old” to donate blood; her blood is too old or too tired.
Anita decided to go and try to donate anyway. Besides it’s never a good idea to travel alone, so Anita wanted to give Karen a ride and be a support to her anyway.
The full details will be posted here tonight, but for now, it was a 3 hour ordeal complete with odd instructions, strange procedures and old-wive’s tales.