With the start of the New Year, many look at new resolutions that have a positive impact on themselves and their community.  Becoming a regular donor for Canadian Blood Services may be a consideration, as it is an ongoing need.  January is National Blood Donor Month, bringing awareness to the gift of giving and joining Canada’s lifeline. 

Coming out of the holiday season, Canadian Blood Services has a strong inventory, however,  looking ahead at the remaining winter months there is some concern for fewer donors.

Territory Manager for Canadian Blood Services Manitoba, Steven Raizen, says there are a number of factors that contribute to fewer donors at this time of the year.

“Generally, the holiday period is a more challenging time to try and get donors out and the past few months have shown that. But January, itself, can be a challenge due to weather which may impact people being able to reach one of our donor centres.  Then, of course, international or out of the country travel picks up a little bit in that January period as it's cold and many look to escape.  And that does impact some donors coming out.”

“On a general basis, we would say that there is an ongoing need for donors at all of our donor centres, in Winnipeg, or at any of our mobiles that we run in the rural areas.” 

Across the province and across the country, the CBS is hoping to attract 112,000 new donors to join Canada’s life-line this calendar year.

“Depending on community and the donor base there, we are always actively seeking new donors," he explains. “We do work with high schools and post-secondary institutions to encourage donors 17 and older to come out and make their first donation.”

“Our goal is to get new donors to donate once or twice per year,” explains Raizen. “So, the more donors that we have donating less frequently would be the ideal circumstance.”

Some reasons for not donating can be attributed to the lack of time, a fear of needles, or just not remembering that this is a vital need of our communities.  Raizen says more often than not, most people don’t donate because they don’t realize that there is a need or nobody ever asked them to.

“I don’t think the time is really a huge factor,” he says. “We are very efficient at our donor centres here in Manitoba.  So, people can expect to spend less than the 1 hour that we recommend that they set aside for donation events.”

“So, by now making that formal request and asking people to come out and donate then that really helps to elevate the awareness that there is a need for donors.”

“The message that we want to get across is that is it a very simple, easy process.  It does take up to 1 hour but generally less. The needle does hurt for 1 second when it goes in but other than that it is a pain-free process, and most donors, once they’ve done it the first time they say afterwards, ‘Why didn’t I do this before? This was so easy!”

Come and join to support Canada’s lifeline!

https://myaccount.blood.ca/en/donate