Canadian Blood Services is asking you to give.
The service is ramping up its blood drive ahead of the long weekend, asking for 32,000 donations.
“Over the summer, the collection has been softer than we’d like,” said Michael Betel, director of donor relations for Ontario, adding that each summer blood donation goes down, particularly ahead of long weekends.
“We should have five to eight days supply of every blood type. Right now we have less than that for four of them.”
Of most importance is the need to top up on type O blood, both O+ and O-. The problem is that 39 per cent of Canadians have O+, so it’s always in high demand. Though only seven per cent of the population have type O-, it’s universal, meaning that the blood type can be used in everyone.
Betel gives some interesting numbers that illustrate the importance of donation: eight donors a week are needed for one leukemia patient; five donors a week are needed for someone being treated for cancer; while a further five donors a week are needed for someone having heart surgery.
Canadian Blood Services face many challenges in keeping its blood inventory at acceptable limits. One such challenge is that it they’re forced to depend on the same donors year after year. In fact, Betel said that about 830,000 units a year come from just 400,000 people.
“One in 60 donate, but one one in two could,” he said.
Another challenge is, though these blood drives do boost donations, once the call ends, it fails to remain on the minds of most people.
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On top of that, most of the donors are over 50, with the younger generation failing to pick up the torch. It may be a lack of time — though it only takes about 15 minutes to an hour if it’s busy — or simply being unaware.
“When we ask people why they don’t donate, they say ‘Because no one asked me,'” Betel said.
But now the call is out.
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