On the evening of 26 April 2025, someone rammed an SUV into a street festival in Vancouver, BC. Three different hospitals in Vancouver announced a code orange (mass casualty incident) in response to the flood of injured people.
Feeling like you can’t do anything to stop these kinds of incidents is friggin’ awful. However, that fear and anger can be shaped into a tool for good. HOW? By learning to notice these feelings, tolerate them, then channel them into useful actions, rather than taking them out on random people, numbing them, or bottling them up.
What’s one thing you can do right now to channel that tension?
If you can donate blood, now is the time. Because of the shelf life, blood anywhere in BC will get moved around as needed. (I volunteer at the donation centre in Victoria, and the blood goes to Vancouver every evening on the ferry.)
Thoughts and prayers are great; in addition, action addresses that helpless rage you may be feeling while also helping patients in urgent need of blood products.
Don’t know if you’re eligible? Go to https://www.blood.ca/ to take the eligibility quiz. They’ve changed the rules around sexual activity and travel in the past few years, so if you weren’t able to donate before, you may be included now.
Can’t donate? The donation centres are always looking for volunteers to hand out snacks! You could also help organize a blood drive in your community, sign your organ donor card, and otherwise spread the word. 😊🩸
Does the idea of donating blood make you tense or nervous or sick to your stomach? That’s fear, and it’s normal! The needles aren’t as big as you might think, and you can minimize the weird feeling of losing that much blood if you prepare well. That means eating well and drinking LOTS of water (more than you think) the night before and the morning of your appointment. You can also bring a friend for support or request a tour of the facility.
Use your anxiety and anger to face the fear of needles and figure out the booking process. Call friends you haven’t talked to in a while. Rally co-workers to head to your local donation centre. See if anyone you know has ever received blood or stem cells or organs. Build community and a web of support, so that no one you know gets so isolated and their mental health gets so bad that driving a damn car into a crowd starts to sound like a good idea.
If you don’t know how to notice these feelings or want to improve your tolerance, send me a message. These are trainable skills, and practice makes better.