Peter Spagnoli is used to donating blood or plasma. He’s done it 51 times over the years and considers his gesture a small thing he can do to help save lives.
“If you can help somebody, you can help somebody. Just donating blood or plasma doesn’t take much time anyways,” Spagnoli told Global News.
He’s one of the few to come out to the Kirkland Donor Centre.
The clinic has been struggling to attract new donors — it’s short by 55 people a week in the last year.
“The demand is rising and we have to make sure that this blood donor centre will meet its goal,” Laurent Paul-Ménard, a spokesperson for Héma-Québec, told Global News.
Across the province it’s a similar story — Héma-Québec is reporting 800 cancellations or no-shows in the last week at its centres. That represents almost 15 per cent of the agency’s weekly blood collection.
“In the last couple of weeks we’ve noticed a decrease in the numbers, obviously,” Nathalie Fontaine, a registered nurse at Héma-Québec, told Global News.
Officials say the pandemic is partly to blame but they also figure that many people aren’t aware of the Kirkland location and they want to get the word out that they’re open and ready to receive new donors.
“We have to send out the message on a regular occasion to make sure that people do show up on a regular basis,” Ménard said.
According to Héma-Québec, someone in the province needs blood every 80 seconds and every day, 1,000 donations are needed to meet hospital demands.
Pat Yeomans is happy to donate her blood knowing the big difference she’s making with a small gesture.
“I feel like I did a good thing today. I asked the nurse how many people it will help and she said four people,” Yeomans told Global News.
Officials just hope more people will realize the importance of how they can help and will give a bit of their time and blood to help those in need.
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