Canadian Blood Services needs 4,300 more people to roll up their sleeves between July 16 and Aug. 6 in order to ‘top-up’ the blood supply at their local blood donor clinic before heading off on their summer travels.

“We need more than 600 appointments in Sudbury booked this summer to keep up with hospital demand, and patients are counting on more people to become blood donors,” Anne Campbell, director, Donor and Clinic Services, said. “If you've made an appointment, please honour it. If you haven’t made one, please book one today.”

Unfortunately, only 60 per cent of blood donors honour their appointments, according to Canadian Blood Services. With a patient somewhere in Canada needing blood every minute of every day, it is important that Canadian Blood Services maintains a constant supply of new blood donations. Most often, it takes more than one donor’s unit of blood to save a patient’s life. A single car accident victim may require 50 units of blood and blood products to survive injuries.

Increased traffic usually means more collisions on roadways. Road traffic injuries are the second leading cause of death for young people aged five to 25. More people have died on Canada's roads in the last 50 years than the number of Canadians killed in both world wars, according to the Canada Safety Council.

Visit www.blood.ca for more information, or call 1 888 2 DONATE (1-888-236-6283) to book an appointment to donate today.

Posted by Arron Pickard