While an hour of your time may not seem long, for patients waiting for blood, your one hour donating blood is time well-spent. However, with many donors away or busy over long weekends, the number of donations usually declines despite the demand for blood remaining constant.
Canadian Blood Services is encouraging Comox Valley area residents to make donating blood part of their plans now and help fill the potential long-weekend gap.
While there is a continuous need for all blood types, there is always a greater need for the “universal donor” — blood donors with O-negative blood. It is the only blood type that is compatible with all others.
“When someone’s life is on the line and seconds matter, there’s no time to check blood type, so hospital patients receive O-negative blood,” says Ed Yee, director of donor and clinic services for the B.C. and Yukon region of Canadian Blood Services.
“It is the blood type used in the most critical situations: for neonates, patients with compromised immune systems, and for trauma victims.”
Clinics in the Comox Valley to receive your much-needed donation include:
• May 28 and 29 from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. and May 30 from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the K'ómoks First Nation Band Hall at 3320 Comox Rd.
Bring a friend or family member to donate with you and remember to make another appointment to donate blood by booking online at www.blood.ca or by calling 1-888-2DONATE (1-888-236-6283).
Canadian Blood Services is a national, not-for-profit charitable organization that manages the supply of blood and blood products in all provinces and territories outside of Quebec.
Canadian Blood Services also oversees the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network, and provides national leadership for organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Canadian Blood Services operates 42 permanent collection sites and more than 20,000 donor clinics annually.
The provincial and territorial Ministries of Health provide operational funding to Canadian Blood Services. The federal government, through Health Canada, is responsible for regulating the blood system.
For more information, go to blood.ca.
— Canadian Blood Services