COVID-19: Canadian Blood Services Urgently Calls on Donors to Replenish Stock Exhausted During Omicron | The Canadian News

Canadian Blood Services is appealing to new and returning donors to help replenish blood, platelet and plasma supplies and support patients through the latest COVID-19 wave.

The urgent request comes with the organization’s decline in regular donors since the start of the pandemic.

“One in two people in Canada are eligible to donate blood, plasma and platelets, but only one in 81 do so,” said Dr. Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services, said.

“The problem is that we rely on a very small group of people to provide for the needs of the country,” Sher added.

And Omicron has reduced that ‘very small group of people’ to an even smaller one.

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“If someone was sick with COVID or they had a family member who already was, they might not be able to come out and make an appointment,” explained Janna Pantella, head of business development at the Kelowna office of Canadian Blood Services.

This is a situation that the organization is making a national call for donations of both blood and plasma.

“We may be asking the community for first-time donors or perhaps those who were last in line to make an appointment and keep that appointment to help meet that need,” Pantella said.

“We need more donors, the need for blood and blood products does not stop, so whether there is a pandemic or not, Canadians rely on these products and we need Canadian help to supplement them.”

Donors can call or visit 1-888-2-DONATE here.