By Sarah McPartland
PROVIDENCE, RI--Many people cringe at the thought of giving blood. Some will never do it and some do it often. Jessie Bouchard, a Lead Donor Specialist said it’s safe to say those who do brave the needle each have a story for why they do. Beyond the patients in a blood donation center, the medical professionals who work there all have a story of their own. Jessie Bouchard, from the Rhode Island Blood Center in Providence is one such individual.
Jessie Bouchard is a 32-year-old New Jersey native and has worked at the Rhode Island Blood Center for 8 years now. Her story starts when she was 7 years old. Jessie said, “Truthfully, I really wanted to be a veterinarian.” Jessie specifically wanted to pursue a career in large animal medicine.
Over the years her dreams changed. Like many college students, she said she didn’t really know why she wanted to do. At 18 years old, and to the dismay of her parents, Jessie took an internship working for Disney World in Orlando, Florida. “It was awesome.” Jessie said. “I was a ride conductor in Epcot, I wore the lederhosen and everything.” She said she met Cinderella, who at the time was a “chain smoking witch”. She also said with some laughter, “Prince Charming and Aladdin were a couple.”
She spent eight months in Disney and even contemplated the thought of transferring from SUNI College in New York to a school near Orlando. She said, “My dad said to me, you know you’ll be partying all the time if you go to school in Florida, and I think he would have been right.” So with 8 months of fun behind her, she went back to school in New York but transferred to New York Institute of technology to pursue an education in pre-medicine.
After Jessie graduated, she got a job in a blood bank in Rhode Island where she took a patient’s blood for the first time. “That was the first time I ever threw up.”, she said. Jessie said she had to have one of her more experienced co-workers take her in the back room afterwards and teach her how to cope with it.
Jessie said working at the blood bank was an experience nonetheless. She explained, a blood bank is a blood and plasma donation center where they pay the patients for their donation. She also explained that the FDA prohibits the blood bank from donating your blood or plasma to other patients because donors are being compensated. Jessie said the donations are used mostly for medical research. She dealt a lot with homeless people and people who really needed the money.
After about a year at the blood bank, Jessie found a job at the Rhode Island Blood center and after 8 years worked her way up to the position of Lead Donor Specialist. She said as a donor specialist she deals mostly with donors, drawing their blood, and making sure it gets to the right place whether it be labs for testing or to be stocked and labeled.
Jessie said her favorite part of the job is communicating with the donors. When asked about her least favorite part of the job, she was hard to find an answer. Jessie said most of the donors who come in are very pleasant and she hardly deals with anyone who tries to be dishonest or interfere with the process.
Jessie also mentioned that since blood donation is technically “free [blood] testing”, you would think she would have to deal with informing patients of issues with their blood. She said she hardly ever has to inform a patient that their blood isn’t of use because of a potentially harmful disease. Essentially, Jessie made it clear that she loves her job and said that she has plans to stay there in the future.
Jessie always found the thought of giving blood nauseating until one day she got over her fear because she had a reason. “My father was in a car accident about 15 years ago, he needed platelets and blood transfusions.”, she said. Jessie said that this tragedy really showed her the importance of giving blood and ever since then she gives blood regularly.
Many people have stories like this she said. Jessie said that most of the donors she deals with on yearly basis are regulars and a lot of them have had family members or friends who have needed blood transfusions in the past. “Many people even come in and give blood to themselves.”, Jessie said. The blood center stores it for them in case they need a blood transfusion themselves.
She gave the example if you are at a restaurant and there are twenty people inside, any number of people in that room could have had a blood transfusion, and if you give blood it could be your blood running through them. She said she thinks it is important to give blood because of the mere thought that, “You never know who’s walking around with pieces of you inside them.”
