B.C. blood banks need 1.5K donors by next week, Canadian Blood Services says

Glenn Bailey donated blood for the 200th time on Monday at a mobile clinic in Sidney. He does it regularly, every chance he gets,

“I’ve been working at it for a lot of years—early ‘70s, actually late ‘70s I guess it was when I started,” said Bailey from a donor chair in Sidney’s Shoal Centre.

Canadian Blood Services is encouraging everyone eligible to follow Bailey’s lead. Gayle Voyer works for the organization and says it needs about 11,000 blood donors nationwide, and 1,500 in B.C.—by Jan. 7.

The current targets are needed to ensure hospitals maintain an adequate blood supply. Longer term, 100,000 new donors are typically needed each year to replace those no longer able to donate.

“Book that appointment as soon as you can, and make 2024 the year that you start donating,” said Voyer on New Year’s Day.

Donations are down currently, like they typically are during the holidays. “Just people getting out of routines and just sort of forgetting to book their appointment or to attend their appointment,” said Voyer.

In fact, donations have dropped post-pandemic. “People having just that freedom to do other things, whereas during the pandemic we were one of the only places that continued to be open,” she observed Monday.

The challenges with a decline in donors over the past year have been compounded by events like the wildfires this summer in the Okanagan and B.C.’s Interior, as well as the flooding two years ago. Both events temporarily shut down some blood donor clinics.

You must be 17 years old or older to donate and in good general health. Other eligibility criteria can be found online before registering.