One year ago Wednesday, the Plasma Donor Centre in Lethbridge opened its doors. Since then, more 3,000 donors gave around 11,000 times, for a total of 8,000 litres of plasma.
Brenna Scott, the location’s business development manager, said the education around plasma has grown significantly in that time.
“The awareness piece was so key for us,” she said. “We knew a lot of the community members had never even hear of plasma.”
Despite opening during a pandemic, the centre has seen growing support. When it first opened, Scott said they were seeing two donors per hour.
“We are just at nine donors and hour right now, but we’re hoping to get that up to about 11 or 12 donors down the line,” she said.
“I think going forward we’ll continue to see a really strong response from the community.”
The need for plasma in Canada is about four times greater than what’s currently being collected. Scott said there are still about 300 open appointments available in Lethbridge between now and Jan. 4.
“If you have some extra time, come on over with your family and friends and help save a life.”
More information on how to donate can be found on the Canadian Blood Services website.
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