Canadian Blood Services is marking a milestone in Lethbridge: its plasma donor centre has officially been operating for two years.
The centre, located in south Lethbridge’s Coulee Creek Common, began operations due to the increased need for plasma in Canada and replaced the previous whole blood collection site inside Melcor Centre.
Brenna Scott, a business development manager with Canada Blood Services, is happy with the growth they’ve made up to this point.
“It has been an incredible past two years,” she said. “We have surpassed collecting over 23,000 units of plasma here in Lethbridge.
“I know it’s been kind of an odd two years with COVID and the pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped donors from coming out and giving back to the community.”
When the location first opened, Scott said their focus was on transitioning existing whole blood donors to the site. They recently had a donor mark their 700th donation.
This year, they targeted new donors by expanding their reach to residents.
“This summer was the first time we were able to be out in the community more. We were at the farmers’ market, the dragon boat festival, the home and garden show, and were able to talk to potential donors in person and answer any questions they may have,” Scott explained.
“We have seen more donors because of that.”
However, the winter holiday season tends to pose a challenge in filling appointments, with lots of last-minute cancellations.
Scott said the centre still needs to fill 150 appointments by the end of the month. More than 600 spaces are still available in the first two weeks of 2023.
Donating plasma is very similarly to donating whole blood, but can be done more often. The plasma collected by Canadian Blood Services goes toward medical patients in need of transfusions and supports those with conditions such as immunodeficiency, burns, and bleeding disorders through specialized medicines.