Blood donor clinic delayed

The Canadian Blood Services annual spring clinic here, originally scheduled for April 9-10, has been delayed for two weeks.
It’s now scheduled to run Wednesday, April 23 from 4:30-8:30 p.m. and again Thursday, April 24 from noon-3 p.m. and 5-8:30 p.m. at Fort Frances High School.
But CBS spokesperson Harvey Heather said yesterday it’s not too early for interested donors to make an appointment by calling 1-888-2DONATE (1-888-236-6283) or visiting www.blood.ca
In coming weeks, CBS also will be contacting donors who’ve given in the past to book appointments for April 23-24, but Heather noted those who call ahead early get an even better choice of appointment time slots.
A two-day goal of 380 donors (300 units of blood) has been set for this year’s spring clinic.
At the pair of two-days clinics here last April and October, 764 district residents donated a total of 648 units of blood.
Each unit can be used to assist as many as three people, so that means they potentially helped up to 1,944 patients.
While this number is about the same as those in 2006, the number of units actually is down by 50 or so from 2005, and Heather said CBS would like to see those numbers boosted a bit.
CBS also would like to see more new donors at the spring clinic—not only to meet the increasing demand for blood, but to help replace any past donors who no longer may be able to donate due to health reasons or possibly having passed away.
“We’re looking at needing, nationally, about 85,000 new donors in order to keep up with the demand,” Heather remarked.
CBS looks after 91 hospitals in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, including those here in Rainy River District. About 60,000 units of blood per year are needed to meet the demand of those facilities, noted Heather.