Canadian Blood Services is heading into a traditionally dry summer season with the lowest inventories in five years and is calling on Burnaby residents to donate.
“We usually see a little dip in the summer time, but it seems to have happened earlier this year,” event co-ordinator Trudi Goels told the NOW, “so we’re just trying to make sure that we have everything in place for the summer.”
More than 150 donation appointments are available at two clinics running in Burnaby over the next couple of weeks.
Residents can donate Thursday, June 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Telus Day of Giving clinic at Brian Canfield Centre (The Telus boot building at 3777 Kingsway) or Thursday, July 3 from 1 to 8 p.m. at Fortius Sport & Health (3713 Kensington Ave.)
Roughly half of all Canadians are eligible to donate blood, yet less than four per cent actually do, according to Blood Services statistics.
For Goels, the reasons to get out and donate are simple.
“It takes about an hour and you could save somebody’s life,” she said, “so I guess the idea is do you have an hour and would you like to save someone’s life?”
To book an appointment, download the GiveBlood app, visit blood.ca or call 1-888-2-DONATE (1-888-236-6283).
