If you’re looking for the perfect gift this holiday season, why not give the gift of life.
Canadian Blood Services is looking for donations of blood and plasma, and while 6 out of 10 eligible donors in Canada believe donating is important, only 1 in 10 will book an appointment to do so before December 31st.
Plasma donation is an important one because it’s used to make life saving medication for various diseases. The donation time is around 30 to 45 minutes, and while males can donate once a week, females can donate every two weeks.
According to Lane Brandon, Centre Manager for the Lethbridge Plasma Centre, the reason males can donate once a week is due to having more blood in their bodies on average based on their weight and height. They also have higher hemoglobin levels.
Recently, Canadian Blood Services offered a bursary program to help encourage students to recruit plasma donors and get the chance to win a bursary to go towards their tuition.
Brandon says there was a lot of success with the bursary program.
“We actually had a lot of success with the bursary program and were helping with university students tuition for the people who won the programs by getting the most donors to come in with them,” says Brandon.
The top prize in the bursary program was done by Lethbridge College nursing student Eliza Poettcker who recruited 30 plasma donors and was awarded $3,000.
Anyone interested in learning more about plasma and blood donation, or is looking to book an appointment can do so by going to blood.ca or calling 1-888-2DONATE (1-888-236-6283).
