District urged to roll up their sleeves

Canadian Blood Services returns to Fort Frances this week with a two-day mobile blood donor clinic at Fort Frances High School.
Slated tomorrow (Sept. 25) from 4:30-8:30 p.m. and again Thursday (Sept. 26) from noon-3 p.m. and 5-8:30 p.m., CBS expects more than 435 donors will attend.
“We’re very excited about this clinic as Fort Frances has always shown strong support for our clinics,” said Myrtle Nichols of CBS. “The need for blood is ongoing?
“Cancer patients, patients who need life-saving surgery, trauma victims, and many others depend on a stable blood supply year-round,” she stressed.
According to Nichols, only about three percent of eligible Canadians give blood yet every minute in communities across Canada, somebody needs blood.
“The blood you give today could save a life tomorrow. Please take a little time to make a big difference,” she said.
Nichols urged prospective donors to call CBS toll-free at 1-888-2 DONATE (1-888-236-6283) to learn about donating blood and to make an appointment.
CBS currently collects more than 800,000 units of blood every year, but demand is increasing. It is estimated that one million units of blood will be required by the end of 2005 to meet patient needs.
To meet this demand, the “Roll up your Sleeves, Canada!” challenge was launched last September with the goal of attracting 160,000 new, regular donors.
This would raise the percentage of eligible Canadians who regularly give blood from roughly three percent to five percent.
CBS asks all eligible Canadians to make donating blood a part of their life by donating twice a year, or more, every year.
CBS is a national, not-for-profit charitable organization that manages the blood supply in all provinces and territories outside of Quebec, and also operates the country’s bone marrow donor registry.
It operates 43 permanent collection sites, 11 bone marrow donor centres, and more than 10,000 donor clinics annually.
For more information, visit www.bloodservices.ca