Poly Clinic Meeting and San Pedro Blood Drive Preparations

Our second San Pedro blood drive is today from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm at Los Pinos Clinic on the same road as Tropic Cargo. Today we increase the supply of “Ambergris Caye” blood that is being kept in Belize City at Belize Blood Bank Services. This reserve of blood to people on the island who require blood in an emergency or scheduled surgery. Currently, Chairman Eiden Salazar and Vice Chairman Anthony Anderson are the 2 board members who can authorize blood use to the Blood Bank.

Last time we collected 49 pints of blood, learned a lot and the system is working – so far 2 islanders have used 7 pints of blood. We plan to continue to improve and refine our process as we go along. This time I was put in charge of the entertainment division, so my bag is packed with coloring book, crayons, blank paper, and my portable DVD player with Blue Planet so the adults can have something to enjoy while they wait. Amy offered to help and bring some word search and a few books.

No matter how well we prepared in advance there is always so much to do last minute. Yesterday we did last minute flyers and collected cookie donations from Cost Less, Island Supermarket, and Belikin Distributors.

Before doing our legwork for the blood drive, Anthony and I had a 2:00 pm meeting at the Poly Clinic. We went over the list with Owen and Marcia, then they showed us around the entire building.

Here are a few pics I snapped yesterday.

Health update: I am on track, but this is not a fast recovery issue, so I am having good and bad days. I found a good food plan that is helping my system improve but it is a lot of work. I have to check everything I eat carefully, and eat small portions every 2 hours. As a result I will blog as often as I can and be resting when I am not up for it.