捐血活动 Blood donation drive

慈济连同红十字会，每一季进行一次捐血活动。这是我生平第三次捐血，但是第一次在新加坡捐。后来得知慈济人为了让大德耕福田，跑到巴西立中心鼓励大德前来捐血，还把小货车准备好载他们一程到会所。

Tzu Chi conducted a blood donation drive every 3 months, together with Red Cross. This is my third blood donation but my first in Singapore. I found out later that our volunteers actually went to Pasir Ris interchange to encourage the public to come over for blood donation and we got our mini-van ready to ferry them over.

捐血程序和美国大同小异。到了会所，志工会先问我们今天身体状态如何。如果感觉身体状态允许捐血，便到二楼填写表格。

The procedures are fairly similar. Once you reach our office, volunteers will first ask whether you are feeling well today. If you are feeling healthy enough for blood donation, proceed to the second floor to fill in all the forms.

接着带着表格到大殿，让医生过目及签证。美国方面，护士则会向你逐一发问每道问题。之后进行验血，以测量身体内的铁含量。如果铁含量过低将不被允许捐血。

Next, move up to the main hall for admission. The doctor will scan through your application forms before certifying it, unlike the American system where the nurse will ask every single question one by one. This is followed by a blood test for iron level. If your iron level is too low, you are not allowed to donate blood.

好在我的铁含量够高，顺利晋级到轮候处。等待了近一个小时，我便坐在椅架上等候捐血。注射了一支美国方面没有的止痛针，我便开始输血。整个过程历时约二十分钟。

Luckily, my iron level is high enough, allowing me to enter the waiting line. After waiting for close to an hour, I found myself sitting on the blood donation chair. I got an injection of pain killer which is not given in America and started to pump my blood out. The whole process last for about 20 minutes.


捐血后应该坐下休息，吃些饼干，喝些饮料补充体液。这时，慈济人会把握因缘向大德介绍慈济。可是翻译组讨论会已经开始了，迟到的我只好随手抓了些饮料，就这样结束了我在新加坡的第一次捐血经验。

I was supposed to sit down and rest after the donation, consuming some drinks and biscuits to regain my body fluids. Volunteers will be chatting with the public to introduce Tzu Chi to them. As I got a discussion with the English translation group which I am already late, I grabbed some drinks and ended my first blood donation in Singapore.