Blood collection made easy
Errands by Karen helping Kings, Hants seniors live at home longer
Helping people is in Karen Ferguson’s DNA.
In 1978, Ferguson started her career as a medical lab technician. She served at the Hants Community Hospital for about 20 years, first in the 1980s and early ‘90s, and then again from 2007 to 2014. She worked behind the scenes as a lab tech when she started her career and eventually switched to part-time, Monday to Friday, working as part of the assembly line of technicians drawing people’s blood.
She saw first-hand the need for the services and knew that when she retired, she’d find a way to continue helping.
“I saw what a struggle it was for people who are elderly, sick, having mobility issues, busy people that had to wait a long time to have their blood taken and I just thought when I retired, that would be my retirement job,” said Ferguson.
Using the self-employment benefit program through the Community Business Development Centre, Ferguson created Errands by Karen, which launched in 2014.
“In the morning, I do blood collection and then in the afternoon, I help people stay independent, whether it’s grocery shopping, (taking them to) medical appointments, picking up items,” she said.
Ferguson, who lived in Falmouth for 35 years and now resides in Wolfville, said she serves eastern Annapolis Valley — both Hants and Kings counties. She’s been as far east as Mount Uniacke to serve a client and as far west as Middleton. The lion’s share of her clients reside in Windsor, Wolfville, Kentville and Berwick.
She said about 80 per cent of her clientele are seniors, 10 per cent are busy, on-thego working people and 10 per cent are people who are classified as difficult blood draws.
“I’ve been a lab tech since 1978 so I’m proficient at what I do,” said Ferguson, noting she’s able to help people who have a fear of needles, children, and those with vein troubles provide the necessary blood samples.
“I’m well experienced with people who are challenged with blood collection, some are just more at ease with having it done at home, lying on their own couch or bed.”
Ferguson said she has a limited amount of time to draw blood and get it to the hospital’s lab before the sample erodes — and before the lab closes. With the vast geographic area she covers, Ferguson said she tends to focus on different areas each day — she could be in Hants County one day, Kings County the next.
“I can only drop off between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. so it’s a three-hour window,” said Ferguson.
“The blood starts to deteriorate as soon as it goes outside of your body so I have to have the blood there within 90 minutes.”
With poor weather conditions and road work, Ferguson said she faces multiple challenges in the run of a day, but she finds her work quite rewarding.
Ferguson said for some people, relying on an athome blood collection service is the only affordable option.
Although there are affordable transportation systems in place, like Dial-A-Ride in Hants County and Point-toPoint in Kings County, Ferguson said those clients have to be able to leave their house to access them.
“If they’re not mobile, it’s an ambulance ride. Nobody wants to pay an ambulance ride to go have bloodwork done. That’s the way our system is,” she said.
For those with chronic conditions that require routine bloodwork, she said the Nova Scotia Health Authority does have blood collection teams that will visit the home to do that work.
A HELPING HAND
When she’s not serving as an independent phlebotomist, she’s helping people get groceries, cook meals, and complete earlier due to the relaxing of provincial restrictions.
She said how she collects blood has changed due to COVID-19. She now has to screen the people living in the household to determine potential exposure risks and she has to leave her garbage there.
“There’s a whole set of procedures that has to be in place to keep myself safe and to keep my clients safe as well,” she said.
She said she’s been getting more calls as doctors begin seeing their patients in person again and require bloodwork.
Due to COVID-19, blood collection at hospitals require appointments, which are booked online or via the phone. Ferguson said she sees that having a long-term benefit for the public, and the lab technicians.
“It’s much more efficient that way because everybody is on a time system. You don’t get the backlog,” said Ferguson.
However, trying to fit everyone in under that new system is tricky. There’s a three-week booking window for appointments right now. Ferguson said some people just don’t want to wait and will book with her. She says she usually can accommodate them within the week.
Despite the challenges COVID-19 and its variants have presented, she’s thankful she’s able to keep providing the service to those who need a helping hand.
“Errands by Karen makes me feel useful, makes me feel helpful and it makes me feel like I’m contributing to my community.”