The London-branch of the Canadian Blood Services is expecting to see a number of donors this week give blood in honour of the victims of Friday’s fatal Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan.
Tributes of all kinds are paying respect to the 15 people who died after the hockey team’s bus collided with a tractor trailer while on the way to a semi-final game against the Nipawin Hawks.
More than 76,000 people have donated to a GoFundMe page for families impacted by the crash. Many are sharing heartfelt thoughts and condolences online, while residents in Saskatoon flocked to a local blood donor clinic Saturday to donate blood.
“I think it’s important to recognize that something can happen, like it did in Saskatchewan, and we need to make sure blood is there in the hospitals if patients need it,” said Kristen Ungar, territory manager for the Canadian Blood Service’s London location.
She says giving blood is a direct way of helping out, with donations going on to help trauma or car crash victims, cancer patients, someone going for surgery or people living with a variety of medical conditions.
“When you’re a blood donor, you’re making sure our local hospitals have the blood they need.”
Ungar says she’s already spoken with some Londoners who felt compelled to donate because of Friday’s tragedy.
“If there’s a car crash and someone needed a lot of blood, on average they could use up to 50 units. So that’s a lot of people needed to save one life.”
Ungar says a donation is used within a few days.
“It’s a very fast turnaround,” she explained.
“Because it’s constant, we need to have donors come in all the time.”
In the London area alone, Ungar says they need to find 200 new donors per month to keep up with demand.
Logan Boulet, a Humboldt Broncos player from Lethbridge, was taken off life support over the weekend. He’d signed an organ donor card on his 21st birthday, and family said his organs would be going on to help six people.
A campaign to show support for victims, started by a group of hockey moms in Langley, B.C., is gaining momentum with an idea to wear hockey and other sports jerseys on Thursday.
The Thames Valley District School Board is urging its students and staff to wear hockey jerseys on Thursday.
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