We just moved here, don't speak much German yet, but heard about the blood shortage and as a family of O negatives thought we would do our part. Then came up against this.

This seems completely small-minded and generally mad considering we live in an age of excellent translation apps and most doctors speak English. And even if they didn't, I can get through pretty much anything with Deepl.

A fluency requirement is surely blocking a lot of potential donors in a country with many immigrants. As a medical professional myself, I completely understand about informed consent but I have managed to work with many patients in my home country who didn't speak a word of English and have had great results.

If the blood shortage is as critical as they say, lifting this and reaching out to immigrants and having blood donation drives in immigrant heavy areas would surely go a long way to alleviating it.

Thoughts?

by BritnBayern

29 comments

  3. Well, a small oversight could have a big impact.
    So sort of makes sense

  4. I’m guessing it’s a legal requirement to ensure everyone is giving informed consent, but I agree it seems rather inflexible.

    I understand the frustration. I’m type O and would love to donate, but I’m banned from donating in most countries (including Austria) because I spent the first 9 months of my life in the UK.

  5. Brainless!

    My employee speaks fluent English, but every walk to the Behörden take super long, what could be communicated in 30 seconds(in English). (1month in Austria) Dämliche Regelversessenheit….

  6. >This seems completely small-minded

    Welcome to Austria 🙂 You’ll find lots of small-minded stuff (and people) here, but don’t worry too much. It’s still a nice place to live.

    Sadly, that regulation for blood donors is a pity and not even necessary, because most of the educated people here have decent English skills and would probably understand a description of your health status given in English language. This is just a stupid regulation (of which we also have lots of).

  7. It’s a liability issue.

    Nobody wants a “I didn’t understand what they meant by HIV, in my country it’s called vlsvleqüfsgnteogvtp and they didn’t ask me about that“ situation.

  8. Maybe call the blood donation center in vienna (4th district). It’s been years since I’ve been there, because I don’t live in vienna anymore. But I am pretty sure there was an option for English.

  9. That is stupid but … oh, there is a questionnaire now? Does that also cover “forbidden” travel destinations?

    I stopped donating because I am travelling a lot … and three times in a row I was rejected because I was in a black-listed (but not very exotic) country before. When I was asking them if they could not publish this info on their website, they told me (10 years ago?) that that would be too much of an effort to update on a regular basis … ha, guess what they do with the weather forecast!

  10. Well no wonder we have a shortage if so many people are excluded.

    I myself can’t donate because I’m in psychotherapy and take medication (SNRI). If it was only the medication I could donate…

    It’s getting really ridiculous at this point..

  11. It’s dumb, but saying that most doctors speak English is as dumb to be honest. No they don’t, atleast not on a level that is required for things like this.

    And even if they did, usually a nurse takes your blood and their english is probably even worse than a doctors. Most of the time its maybe 1 doctor for every 10 nurses.

    English speaking levels in Austria are very different across ages and locations.

  13. The blood situation is short but not short enough not to discriminate against foreigners /s

  14. [https://techharbor.at/en/news/post/blut-kennt-keine-sprache](https://techharbor.at/en/news/post/blut-kennt-keine-sprache)

    Apparently digital mile (a group of tech companies mostly in the harbor area of Linz) managed to have a bilingual blood drive earlier this year. Not sure if there are plans to spread this approach, but there’s a [contact form](https://digital-mile.at/en/kontakt/).

    If you happen to be in or near Linz, the next bilingual blood drive will be in fall (don’t know when exactly yet).

  15. It’s good. See, it also filters out stupid people, who, for example, don’t understand why this rule is important. 

    I am an immigrant too. And a regular blood donor.

  16. Just in 2022, Austria stopped the full blood donation ban from the Queer community. “Small-minded” is still a nice way to frame it.

  17. Lengthy health questionnaires are a pain to fill… and Austrian German is not exactly german either. Even the native Germans are struggling with the Austrian dialects;).
    This is an example of an Austrian pragmatic way to avoid complications for everyone;).

  18. I’m not allowed to donate either but it’s because I was born in the UK during the CJK period and am completely barred from doing so.

    And when I go back to the UK I’m not allowed to donate unless I stay for at least 3 months 🫣

  19. In Tirol you can donate blood as an fluent english speaker. The donation service also has an english questionnaire.

  20. Meanwhile, in Finland, I walked into a health center without speaking a word of Finnish and was able to donate blood in under 15 minutes. They even had food available there.

  21. Yes, that’s Austria for you. Can’t expect the nurse to talk any other language than German, if you’re a lawyer. Outside Vienna this is a safe guess, sadly. Getting better but a far way from a standard.

  22. So you can do the pre check in English but they haven’t bothered to translate the actual docs yet.. deppert

  23. i wish there was a way to get/give all the required information in a different language but maybe in 5-10 years when the technology is ripe

  24. The French won’t speak English due to pride. The Austrians just due to incompetence

    Even if Austrian doctors have a long formal education there is hardly an emphasis on languages (beside from Latin). That is more severe for older folks. And half of older doctors choose more laid back jobs like blood donations

  27. I worked for the red cross at the blood donation centre for a couple years and it is a liability issue. That is required by law and not up to the individual organisations.

    You have to fill out a document with important information, you have to further discussion with a nurse and a doctor to make sure you are aware about all the risks.

    Also you need to be able to communicate with the person drawing blood, in case you are feeling unwell. It’s rare but I’ve seen quite a few bad collapses. (Like 5 in 3 years)

    I understand frustration and I believe there should be ways for at least english speakers to be able to donate blood, but as of the point that I left, we simply did not have the necessary personnel.

  28. As a health professional myself I dare say, the blood shortage is obviously not critical enough if these are the requirements.

  29. I used to work at blood donation center, and it IS crutial to know medical history, because in certain situations blood donation could be harmful for the donating person, as well as for the donated person. 

    I think you misinterpret this for discrimination. 

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