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Urgent need for blood donors at Red Deer clinic

Though summer and the coming long weekend may mean a slowdown for the supply of blood donors, the demand for donations is persistent.
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Though summer and the coming long weekend may mean a slowdown for the supply of blood donors, the demand for donations is persistent.

Red Deer’s blood donor clinic has 230 open appointments for the week of June 26, leaving a gaping hole of open appointments Shaun Richer, Canadian Blood Services territory manager for Red Deer and Central Alberta, hopes can be filled.

“We’re putting the call out,” said Richer. “The biggest thing for us is just constant, friendly reminders.

“With summer, we understand a lot of people will take time off, the kids are out of school soon, and the weather is nice. We’re just trying to remind people to not forget about us. The need for blood is always constant, it never goes away.”

Every month, Red Deer takes in about 1,400 units of blood. The 230 open appointments is a significant chunk of the monthly demand from the local clinic.

“It’s 230 donors that need to come in from now until the July long weekend,” said Richer. “Every month that 1,400 is what we need to collect to support our hospital patients in Central Alberta and across the province.

“We want to be able to have enough on hand to handle any situation.”

The blood donated largely stays in the Red Deer area and in Alberta, but Canadian Blood Services can divert blood across the country if there is a mass incident in need of donated blood.

“When you donate, the blood has a shelf life of 42 days,” said Richer. “Within Alberta it typically gets used up much faster than that.”

Richer said in their morning update, Canadian Blood Services has a three day supply left, across the country, of O-negative blood. O-negative blood is considered the universal donor blood, as it is compatible with all types of blood donation recipients.

The Red Deer clinic is closed Mondays, and Richer said they typically use those days to go out into smaller Central Alberta for blood drives. July 2, they will be in Ponoka.

To book an appointment visit blood.ca, call 1-888-236-6283 or use the Canadian Blood Services App on most smartphones.



mcrawford@reddeeradvocate.com

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