Response From the Central Ohio American Red Cross

Last week, I posted a letter I had sent to the Central Ohio American Red Cross, in which I complained about my frustrations with my recent experiences. On Monday, I received a response, and since I posted the original letter here, I felt it only fair to post the response I received:

Mr.Helsel:

I received your feedback regarding your latest donation experience (as well as previous ones) and I want to apologize that we did not meet your needs for a timely processing. I have looked at your donation history and have identified 1 item that I can address.

On 4/4/07, when you presented to donate, you truly were ineligible by 1 day... this is because in the previous year, you had 6 donations due to donating Double Red Cells (DRC) twice. The computer did not schedule your appointment as it recognized that you would be early; however, we failed to identify that you needed to be notified and scheduled at a later day-for that, I am very sorry. Your time is precious and you ended up not being able to donate as well as being extremely frustrated by the process. Your type "O" donations have been a critical support in the past for our patients in the Central Ohio region. Our type "O" donors make a huge difference to our patient population (especially our pediatric ones, where typically 70% or more of the blood transfused is type "O").

Your frustration at the amount of time it takes to process you is well earned... our goal is to get all donors through the process in about an hour. I have reviewed the staffing from the last 2 mobiles and it appears that we have a wide cross section of staff that have been assigned there. While we advocate for excellent customer service at all times, we are also aware that we sometimes fall short of the mark.

I promise that I will work with the staff to improve our processing as well as our overall customer service for our donors. If there is anything additional that you would like to share with me, feel free-I look at this as an opportunity to improve on our customer service expectations.

Again, thank you for your past donations-you have made a difference in the lives of Central Ohio patients and their families-what a wonderful thing to be able to do. As a donor deferred for living overseas, I envy you that opportunity to make such an impact. I do hope you will give us another chance to prove we can meet your expectations.

Again, feel free to contact me

I have to say, I'm gratified by the response I have received. While I disagree with their records regarding my DRC donations (I only did it once, had a very bad experience, and went back to regular donations), I appreciate the respondents willingness to acknowledge the perceived shortcomings in their system. One thing that would have eased my frustrations off that bat would have been easy to find information about frequency of donations via DRC.

I should also note that I've cooled down quite a bit from last week. Although I'm not ready to say I'll go back, I might be tempted to reconsider, especially in light of the letter. That, and I really do feel that giving blood is an important gift, if it's one you're able to give. I'm going to contact our local hospital systems first, to see if they accept donations directly, but if push comes to shove and there is another urgent call for donors, I'll have to listen to my heart and do what it tells me to do...

UPDATE 4/11 - I just received a phone call from the person at the Central Ohio American Red Cross who sent me this e-mail. We talked a bit about my frustrations, and about the inaccuracies on the official web site. She listened patiently to my concerns, and told me that she would do what she could to correct the problems. All in all, I've been very appreciative of the time she's devoted to communicating with me.