Ottawans slow to give blood amid shortage

‘It’s one of the lowest collecting areas’ in the region, Canadian Blood Services says

Canadian Blood Services needs to fill nearly 3,000 appointments in Ottawa by Labour Day to help keep up with the demand from blood inventories across the country.

Angela Smith, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit organization, said Canadian Blood Services is hoping to fill 2,997 appointments in the city in less than a month.

Doing so could prove difficult. Smith said Ottawa is currently collecting about five per cent less blood than the Kingston area and about 10 per cent less than the Sudbury area.

“Within its region, within the region of northeastern Ontario and Nunavut, it’s one of the lowest collecting areas at the moment,” said Smith.

Last week, Canadian Blood Services extended their Blood Signal, an icon designed to alert current and potential donors about an immediate need for blood, to Sept. 2 after nearly 12,000 donation appointments went unfilled since June. The organization said it needs to fill 51,000 appointments in 25 days to ensure there’s enough blood to supply Canadians nationwide.

Typically, people donate blood less in the summer; the United Kingdom and parts of the United States have sent out urgent appeals for blood this summer, said Smith. Canadian Blood Services’ call for donors now, she said, is a proactive measure to avoid a shortage of blood in the fall.

“You sometimes see a reciprocal effect. What happens is people come in to donate and when they come in to donate, regular donors will make their next appointment, which is two months from now. If they’re not coming in now, then they’re not making an appointment for two months from now.”

Most blood is used between five and seven days after donation, although people can give blood only once every 56 days, said Smith. Because of the demand, the Canadian Blood Services has an ongoing need to keep appointment numbers up.

“We know we need so many appointments set in order to maintain that level. Even if you make 51,000 appointments, a certain percentage of people don’t show up and a certain number will get deferred from donating. Within that we know that that’s, historically, how many people we need to donate in order to maintain that inventory level based on what we know hospitals are going to ask us for,” said Smith.

Attracting new donors in the summer is hard, said Smith. Canadian Blood Services tells current donors to bring friends to donate and encourages community-wide donation clinics. To restore inactive donors, Canadian Blood Services sends reminder emails and makes reminders calls from a national call centre based in Sudbury.

“We will up the number of calls if we find we do have a bit of a shortage,” said Smith. “We’ll also call donors that haven’t made an appointment and ask them to come in.”

According to the Canadian Blood Services website, 15 bloodmobile clinics and 30 mobile clinics will be offered within 250 kilometres of Ottawa before Sept. 2. There is also a permanent location on Carling Avenue. Both the mobile and permanent clinic are appointment-preferred but will accept walk-ins if a nurse is available.

To book an appoint to donate, call 1-888-2-DONATE (1888-236-6283) or go online to blood.ca.