Canadian Blood Services campaign highlights need for donors

A brand new marketing campaign is being launched by Canadian Blood Services in a bid to draw extra donors.

The Shine a Light marketing campaign is highlighting the necessity for 100,000 blood and plasma donations to maintain up with demand.

The non-profit organizations says numbers dropped throughout the pandemic.

“Over the course of the pandemic, we’ve seen Canada’s donor participation rate drop from just under four per cent of the eligible population to under two per cent,” stated Ron Vezina, Canadian Blood Services’ vice-president of public affairs.

“This is a mobilization call to people across Canada to join us in strengthening Canada’s Lifeline.”

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Vezina says analysis has proven “the main reason people don’t donate is because they feel no one has ever asked them to.”

“That’s why we’re shining a light on this situation and calling on those who haven’t donated before to make that appointment – whether it is today, next week, or as soon as you can. You never know when someone in your life may need blood products. Your community needs you to begin donating on a regular basis,” Vezina added.

Canadian Blood Services is asking for individuals to step up and “make blood and plasma donation a habit” to reverse the downward development, which continues.

In addition to a rise in donations, the group says it’s in want of individuals with less-common blood sorts to return ahead.

It notes the much less frequent a blood kind is, the harder it may be to discover a donor match.

“Not only do we need to collect enough of each blood type, we know that blood from donors of the same or similar racial or ethnic background as the recipient is less likely to cause complications for patients who need regular transfusion therapy,” stated Vezina. “Our priority is to ensure the best possible treatment and care is given to patients from all communities. To do that, we need to improve the representation of Black, South Asian, and other racialized people within our donor base.”

The Shine a Light marketing campaign will run for six weeks, ending on World Blood Donor Day, which will even see 60 Canadian landmarks gentle up.

If you need to assist out, you possibly can signal as much as donate on-line, by calling 1-888-2DONATE (1-888-236-6283), or by means of the GiveBlood app.

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