Hydration is key to make your veins pop and stand out better.
Sadly, the needle has to big to ensure the blood doesn’t hemolyze, so it doesn’t clot in the tubing, etc. It’s very large.
I’m not sure if they can do anything about that. I work in a blood bank, and while we’re not a collection site, we do therapeutic phlebotomies where we use the same blood bag the Red Cross uses with needle attached to draw a unit of blood off of people with hemochromatosis. I always feel so bad sticking people with that huge needle.
We do have a smaller needle we can use if we have to though, since we draw the unit off and throw it away. (It Can’t be used for donation.)
I would absolutely inform them the next time that you’re a bit harder to stick and that you would prefer a more experienced person to draw it. All said in a nice way, of course.
Thank you for donating! We’re entering into the summer season, and that is when we get all kinds of notices at work about the blood shortages.