Allergy Times — The Daily Edition

I had some blood tests done recently at a local hospital that is not known for its allergy awareness. Other hospitals in the area eliminated latex gloves and tourniquets from their blood test centers a few years ago, but whenever I had tests done at the hospital in question, there they would be — latex gloves and a latex tourniquet. Whenever I asked for latex free alternatives, the technicians would give me funny looks or simply tell me that there were none. Usually, they would just wrap the latex tourniquet around my sleeve to avoid direct contact with my skin. On a few occasions, the techs wrapped nitrile gloves around my upper arm, which truly hurt.

So, when I walked into the hospital in question last week to have some blood drawn, I was surprised to find that the default tourniquet was non-latex, though the gloves still hadn’t changed. The technician sanitized her hands well and didn’t wear any gloves during the test. Not that this is particularly safe for her, but she told me that she doesn’t like to wear latex gloves.

We talked about all of the health care staff who had recently developed latex allergies, or whose mild reactions to latex were becoming more and more severe with each exposure. This is exactly why I avoid it when I can. My allergy is mild for now, and I’m going to try to keep it that way. I find that vinyl gloves are a good alternative when I’m cleaning the house. I can usually find them in boxes of 100 at the local drugstore.

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