Giving the gift of life
Local woman reaches milestone and helps replenish diminished supply
Susan Henderson learned at a young age the importance of donating blood.
“I started when a family member needed blood, a long time ago,” she said as she finished her 125th donation Thursday during a visit to the Canadian Blood Services Clinic in New Glasgow. “My mother was a long-time donor too.”
Henderson said she was in her early 20s when she started giving blood and that it’s satisfying knowing she’s helping others.
“It helps many people and you never know when you might it yourself,” he said. “The people who come out, the better. It’s nice to see, during the school terms, that young people come out too from the high schools.”
Peter MacDonald, director of donor relations for Atlantic Canada, said the clinics this week in New Glasgow and Pictou had great support, bringing in lots of blood to help compensate for the Labour Day weekend lull.
When regular donors go on vacation during the summer it’s difficult to get the blood needed, he said. CBS relies on a small portion of the population to supply a lot of blood, which make things difficult when those people are unavailable.
Earlier this week, CBS sent out a press release stating that volunteers were needed to fill more than 70 appointments in New Glasgow. Across the country, CBS hoped to fill 25,000 appointments before Labour Day to replenish supplies.
MacDonald said CBS is always looking for more people to donate; out of all Canadians, half are eligible to donate blood, but only one out of every 60 actually do. He’d love to see that number change.
When blood is donated, in goes to a distribution centre in Dartmouth and is then doled out to where it’s needed across the Maritimes. MacDonald said most donations are kept in the area, but blood is moved across the country when necessary.
“From each donation, red cells, plasma and platelets are collected,” said MacDonald.
When someone gives blood, they’re helping with more than just emergency situations, he said.
“There’s a misconception that blood is used in trauma because that’s what’s shown on TV and that is the case. But blood is also a regular part of surgery.”
MacDonald said a cancer patient who’s getting platelets from donated blood could need a supply of eight donors a week, and a car crash could take 50 donations.
He said he’d like to see more young people making donations at local clinics because he sees a significant lack of age diversity. He said blood services as a whole is working to engage with the younger generation and trying to get them out for donations as well, using apps, social media and text reminders, along with getting involved in the high schools.