I have not had one complain about this place, they are super attentive and patient... they do not seem like they are in a rush. Once you are signed in.. they take you to the bank in no more than 5 minutes... I have gone to donate blood and Platelets in which both cases they were very attentive in asking me if i needed more blankets or wanted candy...(I mean who says no to candies) and hey I cannot complain! so yes this is my favorite location to come to for all of my donations read more

NO STAR!!! HORRIBLE PLACE for CNA Exam!!!! I understand we are limited in state of Ca to take exam for renewal. But if it is going to take place in a Healthcare setting, can the staff at least be a little friendlier. By that I mean the Registered "Nurses" evaluating the cnas during the exams. This is how my day went at the Long Beach location. *Mind you i live in San Bernardino County and this exam date was the soonest available. 4:30am. Left house to beat traffic. arrived barely at 7:30, as requested. Doors dont open until 8am (so why show up early?). One RN is doing processing, while the written portion instructor or whomever sits and waits for finger prints. 40 min later the 2nd RN shows up and assists in processing. at about 10:20a. We begin w Handwashing. 10:50 we split into 2 sessions, written and skills. I finished my written within 30 to 40 min. Written portion is fast and easy. Given we are allowed 2 hrs. Waited in room and stared at blank wall for 4hrs. 3p comes around, for our group of 11 to test for skills. *First group of 14 were given 4hrs. We were only given 2 hrs. 1 RN clocked out at 5p. While the other 2 stayed to finish testing and review our results, the RNs rushed us, wouldnt allow me verbalize things that needed to be mentioned so i wouldnt lose points. THEN at one point, one nurse stated that I had already washed my hands and sanitized, so to move on. But how would you know after i clean basin whether i washed my hands or not. Then later turns out I failed that skill because i didnt mention that i soaked residents hand for one full minute? Thats not right. Anyway, we didnt finish until 6:30p and 10 out of 11 failed. One cna was given the chance to redo skill and i assume passed. I dont know. But this place is ridiculous. The RNs dont care, except for one short lady. She was very nice. And informative when giving me my review. I wish i remembered her name. Just BE CAREFUL when registering for exam here. They will fail you to get more money to retake exam. I am scheduled within the next 2 wks to do skills in different location. I WILL COME BACK WITH UPDATED REVIEW for American Red Cross. For complaints. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/governance/corporate-ombudsman read more

If i could give zero stars I would. The facility is run down and not updated. I came here to take my cna test that was scheduled for 8:30 am and was told to be here by 8 am to check in. Okay no problem. I arrived at 7:35 am finding parking was horrible. The only parking that was allowed was street parking, but their was no parking! I had to park a mile away and walk to the building. The written part of the test was okay. I had no problems. The problem i had is with the skills and proctors. The proctors are registered nurses but they are rude and demeaning. As a test taker I was very nervous and made some mistakes but i corrected myself. To be honest Red Cross added their own additional criteria and skills. I was given passive range of motion for the lower body and that included hips, ankles, and toes. The CNA program that i went to did not teach PROM on toes or hips that is the job of the RNA!!! But still i was like whatever I passed my other skills. Then it comes time for the evaluation I'm ganged up by two proctors (nurses) and being called weak and how i won't be successful in nursing school. The last statement that was said to me was that you somehow passed. SOMEHOW PASSED?!? Save your money and time this place is horrible with horrible staff. The staff were highly inappropriate in the regards I was spoken to. All they had to do was tell me how to do it correctly without all the extras. I will be filing a grievance. read more

So awesome. I donated my first time the other day on accident but on purpose. My son needed a parent to donate blood as a part of his health project. So I made an appointment, & all they said they had available was a slot open for platelet donations. I was like ok, it's blood donations right? They said yes but it's platelets. I was still confused. I said f it, I'll do it to help my son out. I had never donated before. This location is located right off of the 405 freeway/cherry exit. A pretty large facility, quite hard to miss w/all of the Red Cross Symbols. I parked in their fairly large parking lot. Followed the sign that stated, "Blood Donations." Walked in and was pleasantly greeted, signed in, took a survey to see if I qualify to give blood, took a small prick from my finger to see if I was anemic or not. You can't donate if you are. This process took about 45 minutes, they were busy. No problem. There were cookies and water, so I grabbed some. I was nervous. Cookies, cookies, everywhere. I became comfortable some how. I saw a man go through a large drawer of DVDs and I couldn't help but be nosey and ask," You can watch movies here?" He said," Only if your donating Platelets, are you?" I said,"Yes." "Well than as soon as I'm done you can choose your movie." I thought to myself hmmmmm... That's a long time to sit w/a needle in my arm. Hmmmm... Ok. Oh, well. If that older gentleman can do it, I can. I saw another older gentleman with blankets on him, watching a movie. If both of those older gentleman can do it, I can. I honestly felt, less nervous. Finally, I chose Mad Max:Fury Road to watch (amazing action film); was brought to a gurney bed and was made as comfortable as possible w/one needle in each arm. The nurse explained that in one arm, saline and coagulant will go in one needle in my arm while the other will draw out blood, seperate the platelets in a bag, and the blood will than go back into my arm. Ok, I've got it. We start the process. She puts on my movie, along w/my head phones. Ok, let's do this. She placed two stress balls, one in each hand. Every five seconds I have to squeeze the stress ball to get the blood flowing. For 2 hours straight. Hmmm, interesting. Ok, got it. I was comfortable, didn't move my arms, was watching my movie. Than the movie ended a good hour and 45 in. Than all of a sudden I felt so dizzy like I was going to faint. It was the weirdest thing. I told the nurse. And she said, "Ok, hunny your all done, we have a full bag from you thank you." As she was taking the needles out of my arms, I fainted in my seat and she put cold pads all on me, I turned pale white, and forgot where I was at. It was honestly the strangest thing ever. I asked why that happened? She explained that I had blood being drawn out of me, platelets were being separated from my blood & being put into another bag, & the rest of my blood was put back in me along w/saline water and coagulant. That its not a natural process for the body to go through so sometimes people feel faint and get dizzy and pass out like I did. I was 15 min shy of 2hours and I said," I'm sorry I couldn't finish." She said, "Don't worry hunny you filled a whole bag, your good!" Pheeeew I was so relieved. I later found out that my platelets can help a Cancer patient out. I was like what?! In shock. My mom past away to Cancer, so I really wanted to cry. I had no idea what I was in for, but I left glad that I did it. It was a very intense situation. For many years I've wondered what I could do to help cancer patients. I've finally found my way. It's the least I could do. I had got up from the bed, went to the restroom light headed as heck, and they had cookies and crackers and juices and waters all set out for the donors recovery. After using the restroom, there was a nurse waiting for me and she kept asking me Are you ok? How are you? They were always there tending to myself and others, were sweet, smiling, talkative, informative, answered any and all questions, were gentle when putting in the needles, and reminded me to drink water. The entire staff and even the donors made me feel completely calm & comfortable at all times. It was very cool & clean in there, but they covered you with a few blankets to keep you warm, and if you needed a heating pad they would administer one if preferred. Next time I will most def go much more relaxed. I'd recommend to wear a warm sweater and some sweats w/warm socks hair in a bun. As comfortable as possible. After your done you can go relax at a snack table and they encourage you to drink plenty of vitamin C beverages and crackers and snacks they provide. You can even take a selfie, like I did using their photo props. All in all, I'd most definitely do this again. In honor of my mom, & so many affected by Cancer. If my mom sat through painful chemo sessions, I could make this a challenged priority for myself. The Red Cross will most definitely see me again. Thanks again to all the lovely staff! read more

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I enrolled in the NAT (Nurses Assistant Training) program with the Red Cross and tested at this location. Overall, I had a horrible experience and would recommend others to test through a different agency (or another location if you MUST use Red Cross). The process is unecessarily drawn out and long: They ask you to be there earlier than testing begins, but don't actually start testing until 2 hours later. You only spend about an hour on the written exam. When you finish, you sit in a plain waiting room and stare at the walls and each other because they only do the skills portion in small groups. So you end up being there for +6 hours, when majority of the time, you're not even testing! To add stress, they make being there difficult. If you didn't take a snack, you're out of luck because there's no vending machines and you can't leave the building-- if you leave, you forfit the exam. Then they collect your bags/backpacks/purses and are reluctant to even let you grab anything. They physically hover over you and pat you down after to make sure you didn't smuggle a cell phone, even when you go to the bathroom. The 2 proctors are older, rude women. They find ANY and EVERY reason to fail you. I passed the written but failed the skills due to something my partner did, not me. I will not disclose due to privacy and knowing I will have to re-test here. In all honesty, the Red Cross is a scam... I know that some people just fail due to mistakes, but it can't be coincidence that they fail such a high number of people. If you scroll through the reviews, majority of people only passed around their 3rd try, which also happens to be your LAST attempt before you are denied the CNA license. Coincidence? I think not. It's all about the money, which is shameful on their end. You have to pay $65 each time you take the skill, so you pay $1500 for the cost of the course, +$130 if you fail twice... Not including gas, time, and pay you MISSED if you took a day off of work. They take advantage of hard working people, while they are WELL AWARE of the fact that CNA's going into the field will probably only make $13/hr, and that's IF they're lucky. read more

LOVE the AMERICAN RED CROSS!!!! DOnate BLood today and you can save 3 life's!!! WOW. I Volunteered here a few times and found it my experience with donors and staff extremely pleasant. All of the staff here know what their doing and take care of our donors with great respect knowing they're taking time off to make a differnce. Trust you me, Each donor make a great difference. YEs it might take a lil more time then expected because its a very delicate process. The staff needs to take every precaution neccesary to ensure each donor is taken care of. SO if you plan on donating i suggest to bring a book, magazine (although they have plenty of reading matterial) kindle, psp, phone, sny form of entertainment to get you through the wait game. Walkings are more then welcomed but appoinments are encouraged.. donors are mandatory to read the very important information before they are interviewed by the nurse. THat usually can take up to 5-15 depending on how fast you read. ( to be honest no body really like reading it and i dont think many really read it. lol) Once your dont reading the nurse will call your name and you are put into a very private room asked a test question, bp vitals are taken ect. After your nurse is finished with the questionaire then the magic begins when you save a life. After your blood is freshly pumped you are tampered by me or any other volunteer there monitoring you for 15 mins in the snack bar. average process usually takes approximately 45 to hour. Most times a little longer because people love donating and we get plenty of donor here at the Long beach donor center. SO please come donate. Last time i was here donors got tickets to the clippers, 2 tix for $10 great deal( nose bleed section but you are able to upgrade your seat for $40 more) . LA King tickets and a free mini bowl from flame broiler. mmmm.... read more

Great, friendly staff here. They make you feel very welcome. Plus donating blood or platelets is a win win situation. You help three people in need and you feel great for donating. read more

I wish I could give negative stars. This place is absolutely horrible -- DO NOT COME HERE!! I took my CNA test here on 1/26 to be treated like I was trash. I live in San Diego and left at 4:30 in the morning to arrive early (at 7:30 - as they requested). Registration began at 8:00am and lasted for an hour and a half. Two of the nurses arrived 45 minutes late, and then were terribly rude to everyone they were registering. They had everyone wash their hands, which took close to two hours, then the written test, which took another two hours, and then who knows how long for the skills exam. I was one of the first to go in the second group of skills testing and still didn't leave until 3 pm, and there were easily 12 people who still needed to take the skills test. In between each round of testing, they sat you in a bland room to stare at a wall for hours on end. We were not allowed to have anything out, could not go outside for a break, and did not provide any sort of food or water. I was there for a total of 8.5 hours and was only actively testing for about and hour and a half. The rest of the time I was staring at a wall and being treated like dirt. Not only was it incredibly drawn out and poorly organized, but the evaluators (2/3 of them) were some of the most rude and cold women I have ever met. One of them failed me for taking blood pressure because she said I was releasing the pump "painfully slow," when I was doing it exactly how I was taught by an experienced nurse in nursing school. I am finishing up my third year of nursing school -- I know how to take a damn blood pressure. My next skill that I was tested on was to transfer a patient from the bed to the wheelchair. They did not have any wheelchairs available, so we used a regular chair instead. They tell us to act as if we were in a hospital setting, so I did exactly that. As I was explaining to my "patient" that I was going to get him out of bed and into the wheelchair, the evaluator interrupted me to rudely inform me "that's a chair, honey. NOT a wheelchair." How on earth does that pertain to the skill I am performing? The evaluators were absolutely horrible and should not be treating us like that when WE are the ones paying for them to be there. Bottom line, they will fail you for anything to get you to pay more money to retest. These women should absolutely not be allowed to do this job anymore. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE read more

Here to donate my most precious commodity. My blood, come on everyone it is time to donate and save a life.

I was seeing a advertisement frequently about the need for blood donation so my wife and I decided we would like to help out. We called to make a appointment which was approximately two weeks away . Our appointments were on July 20th at 5:00 p.m. so it was understood to us that we would both be giving blood at the same time. We arrived on time and went through the check in process. My wife was called back in approximately ten minutes and all hooked up as I sat waiting for my name to be called. At 5:53 they finally called my name and my wife was already done, very frustrated for waiting so long I told them I was no longer interested in donating . The nurse that I told was very unapologetic and acted as it I did her a favor by not spending another hour there. I was extremely disappointed and will surely donate again someday but absolutely never there!! If I had the choice to give it no stars that's exactly what it would get !! read more

In this time of Covid-19 and all of the pleas for blood donations, my husband and I eagerly scheduled an appointment to donate. I scheduled the appointments at the same time, which required over a two week waiting time. We completed all of the questions online via the "rapid pass" to save time. The day of our appointment, we arrived on time and were told that my appointment was cancelled, but my husband's was not. When asked why they would cancel one appointment (and not the other) the man stated they were on the verge of having too much blood and having to wasted it. Seems odd that the Red Cross continues to advertise for the "critical need for blood" yet cancels random appointments??? No offer to reschedule, no rhyme or reason why they canceled one appointment and not the other (clearly a couple with the same last name and same appointment time), and then they asked my husband to re-complete all of the previously (online) completed paperwork. Pretty unorganized, poor client service, and really bad PR. Sorry Red Cross, we want to like you, but you make it so hard! We'll be donating our precious resources elsewhere in the future. read more

I try and give platelets every two weeks and it makes me feel so good to help. The staff is so sweet and they are great at what they do.

Our appointment to donate blood was at 12:30...we weren't called until 1:20 and only just finishing at 2. Staff is really unprofessional- openly criticizing the kid checking people in for mistakes when it seems like he just wasn't trained properly, and the rest of the staff we've interacted with have been either rude or not listened to us. The staff remarked on how big my bf's veins were- but the guy (Armand of Armando?) still had a hard time and managed to hit a nerve. Don't think we'll be using this location for donations again. read more

The WORST experience I have ever had with Red Cross. Because of the experience I had here, I will no longer be affiliating myself with Red Cross EVER again. No more blood or money donations or taking classes/certifications with Red Cross. Never. I am a 2nd year BSN nursing student and came to this location to take my California CNA license exam. The testing paper says the exam starts at 8am and to come 30min beforehand. So at 7:30am, I arrived. THE DOORS DON'T OPEN UNTIL 8:30am. Waited in my car for an hour. Then, there is registration which took AN HOUR AND A HALF. We didn't start testing until 10am. 10AM. ?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?! I ended the written and the skills exam at 6pm. I. Was. At. Red. Cross. For. 11+. Hours. If I could give 0 stars, I would. The staff (LVNs, RNs) are SO unfriendly. They are there for the pay and that's it. What happened to being leaders in health care??? Best of all, they failed me. For what? For having the gait belt 4 finger spaces instead of 3 finger spaces. Guess what ladies? I work at Kaiser and I have yet to witness a gait belt be used to ambulate a patient :) Unrealistic, unfair, unfriendly, complete waste of time. read more

If I could rate no stars I definitely would. I initially applied to this program with the impression that Red Cross is a reputable aide brand. I took a CNA course at the Long Beach location. I had attended some classes at a nursing school (RN) and I decided to take this course for work schedule purposes. I immediately started figuring out that something was a bit off when the LVN instructor would say opinions as if they were facts. It's unbelievable the statements she would make and how she would spend most of the class talking about herself and what she thought was happening in a certain scenario on a medical perspective. If you don't know something don't say it to a group of students and present it as facts! Not only that during the lab skills practice she just sat on her butt and was on Facebook or doing something on her phone the whole time. When we asked her questions she would respond sarcastically and not even answer questions. She literally was not pro active in making sure that we all knew how to do each skill she didn't care. This program also does not offer any after hours or alternative days to practice in the lab setting. They lock the building for lunch so you are forced to be outside, and imagine I took this class in the summer when the triple digits hit. In clinical I knew what to expect but others didn't. I expected for her to round around the nursing home and make sure that we weren't struggling or correct us, and teach during downtime. Instead she sat in the break room and was in her cell phone. All day she didn't even get up to help or anything. During downtime she even looked bothered that we would look at her for direction to teach us. She created also called off more than three times during the length of the course. Yes she had vacation days which I understand but other days she said she was supposedly sick. When in reality on the first day of class she had mentioned she would be out in those days. No one ever showed up to make sure she was doing her job right. I learned more from Liz an LVN future RN during the days that this LVN was there teaching. We met the director close to the ending of the course and she was frustrated that we were not confident in taking the test. She herself made a wrong impression too bringing a designer bag and wearing it the whole time and offering her support by email but when we wrote to her she responded days late. My partner made top of the class for grades and we both made the perfect attendance roster as well. It's been two attempts and we still haven't passed. They keep failing us for really dumb reasons like the fingers were not on the SIDE of the wrist or the glove fell on the floor.I work very hard for my money and they seem to think that just $65 is so cheap anyone can keep paying to retake the test. I kid you not the RN program was easier at check off than this bullshit. They are running a money mill failing people and having hem retake to have people to test. They also during the end of this course "accidentally" cancelled me from the course and returned my money and made me pay for the full 1,500 again I had bills to pay and I was not ready for the money exchange at the time. DO NT TAKE TOUR CNA COURSES HERE I WARNED YOU TAKE THEM ELSEWHERE read more

This place is horrible. You are there all day, cannot get out, no break, no phones while you wait. Two of the evaluators were horrible and very rude! I dont know how they are Nurses. They make up lies to give you a no pass on your skilled test. Through all the skilled tests they keep asking you "are you sure" "do it again", when you already have done something. They want to make you second guess yourself. That is not cool! I mean we are already nervous as it is. Its all a scam to get more money! I talked to them about the lies they put on ny skilled test. One of the evaluator moved the balance on my scale so my first read was wrong. Then he made me and my "patient" turn around to balance it back to normal. Then he said "I'll give you another chance". We can hear him fixing it. Of course the second time I read it correctly. The lady wrote on the form that she actually physically held on to how I placed the gate belt and when I confronted her about it she said "it was visible". That was a LIE!!! I can give this place a Negative star! Awful experience ever! I have renewed my CNA 3 times for the past 13 years and have never had such an awful experience. If you can do it somewhere else, go somewhere else! read more

Overpriced with smug people running the program. I have a B.S., using this course to obtain nursing experience before applying to graduate programs. The price should include better supplies and an adequate work practice setting. They receive a fat $1300 check from 15 girls, and stuff us in a tiny, dirty basement with folding tables and ancient supplies for 8 hours a day. The material could be covered in 2 hours and they provide very little return for the crazy fee. They promised a state exam date in 3 weeks, mine came in 6! There was no job fair as promised and when I called for contact info for jobs the rude office people said they were too busy. We were forced to purchase strict uniforms and shoes to wear to class, signing contracts saying if you are late or not perfectly dressed your course would be failed with no refund. The strict antiquities involved should be matched with exceptional teaching and tools, but the high standards are reserved for the students, not the staff. Red Cross is not worth the money, try a trade school as you get the same training and supplies. This for profit program runs on an old name straight to the bank! read more