blood donations are needed in nova scotia. here's how you can help
5 minute read
according to canadian blood services, donations have drops by 20 per cent compared to typical summers.
brent calver/postmedia
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brent calver/postmedia
donating blood may not be something that comes to mind as a way to spend time, not until a clinic pops up nearby, or someone you know has a need for it.
for hospitals however, the need for blood donations is constant, not only for emergencies but also a core part of treatment for longer term illnesses.
right now, supplies are under strain. on july 22, canadian blood services put out a call for donors as a result of the national blood supply dropping by nearly 20 per cent since june 1.
according to the organization, they require around 18,000 blood donation appointments each week to keep up with demand. in the time leading up to july 22, they were falling short of that goal by between 1,500 to 2,500 appointments each week.
in nova scotia, krysta hanakowski, community development manager with canadian blood services, said donation bookings in the province are keeping with the national trend.
“we’re not in the business of collecting as much blood as humanly possible,” she said. “we want to collect what the hospital needs,” she said.
how did we get here?
according to hanakowski, there is an anticipated drop in donations every year in the summer as people tend to relax their routines and travel.
this year, however, that drop has been much harsher than expected.
hanakowski called it the worst summer she’d seen in her almost 10 years with blood services.
“so it really is time to act,” she said.
with a shelf life of 42 days, blood donations cannot be stockpiled for months in anticipation of the drop. to keep inventory stocked, donations are needed constantly.
hanakowski said that looking to the last month of summer, there doesn’t seem to be much relief on the horizon as of yet.
“right now, especially for the whole month of august, appointments are really down, so we need more people to book,” she said.
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while regular donors are doing all they can, hanakowski said the issue arises when it comes to getting new donors through the door.
“currently, only two per cent of eligible donors in canada are donating. it’s such a small per cent,” she said. “we need to grow that higher than two per cent because we can’t ask that two per cent to do any more.”
what are they looking for? how do they track it?
while they are seeking donors with all blood types, some are more in demand than others. one type in consistent need is type o-negative.
“we always need it because it’s only about seven per cent of the population in canada, but hospitals use 15 per cent,” hanakowski said.
this is because in an emergency, it can be given to a patient without the need to waste important time testing for their blood type.
when tracking inventory, part of what blood services is measuring is how many days the current supply would be able to keep up with hospital demand without collecting more.
hanakowski said that having about a week’s worth is considered a comfortable place to be, while any supplies dropping below five is a cause for concern.
currently, four blood types, including o-negative, have five days of supply.
what are blood products?
when blood is donated, what’s collected is not always the form used in patient treatment.
once a donation is collected and tested, it is sent off to a lab where it can be split into three different parts: red blood cells, platelets and plasma, that make up the whole blood.
each part has its own purpose. red blood cells can be used to treat anemia and carry oxygen; platelets are given to help control or prevent bleeding, and plasma, the protein-rich liquid part of blood, is used as treatment for a number of things from clotting disorders to cancers.
“there’s a number of different blood products that we generate from one donation. it’s not just, you know, the red bag that you see,” said pediatric hematologist oncologist dr. meghan pike, who works at the iwk health centre.
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pike explained there are already guidelines in place intended to ensure blood is only used when needed. she added that in times when supplies are tight, clinicians may have to be even more mindful and may have to decide to delay treatment.
for her practice treating cancer, delaying is not an option she’d want to have to consider.
“we can give their chemotherapy on schedule every two weeks, and so it’s possible that if we have to delay their treatment for longer for whatever reason, that we could see a decrease in overall survival.”
where does it go?
a lot of times when blood is donated, there’s an assumption it will help in a car accident or another emergency; however, it often goes to patients as part of repeated treatment.
pike said that many of her patients require transfusions as a result of the chemotherapy used in their cancer treatment.
because chemotherapy works by killing cells that are dividing rapidly or irregularly, like cancer cells, treatment can also negatively impact the healthy blood cells being produced by bone marrow.
leukemia can create even more need because the cancer growing in the bone marrow directly impacts the body’s ability to produce new blood cells. red cell transfusions are used to treat the resulting anemia, while platelet transfusions prevent bleeds.
pike explained that children with leukemia can need at least 10 transfusions through their treatment and more often receive between 20 and 40.
when supplies are low, it is communicated to pike through the iwk laboratory. while thankfully the current decline has not forced her to delay treatment for any patient, it does cause concern about what could happen if supplies continue to dwindle.
“we never want to be in a situation where we can’t safely manage a patient because we don’t have blood product available, ” she said.
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beyond cancer, donated blood is also used in treatment for chronic illnesses like sickle cell, where some patients may need monthly infusions to prevent life-threatening complications, among others.
“so it expands beyond the field of oncology for sure,” pike said.
donating
for those wishing to donate, hanakowski said donors must be above the age of 17, in good health and that first-time donors should block out at least an hour for the appointment, as well as bring a government issued i.d.
she also advised that donors should eat before their appointment and be well hydrated.
at the actual appointment, donors first complete a health questionnaire before a nurse checks hemoglobin and iron levels and reviews your eligibility.
after donating, donors are given a snack and something to drink while waiting in the clinic for around 15 minutes.
“there’s tons of time to turn this around,” she said, “we just need people to know that the time to act is now, it’s not in months from now. if you can, please come see us, like next week.”
appointments can be booked online at blood.ca, over the phone at 1-888-2-donate or through the giveblood app.
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