Blood donations are a way to help when tragedy strikes

The horrific Humboldt Broncos bus crash brought flocks of people out to blood donation centres across the country last week.

Emma Willms Event Coordinator with Canadian Blood Services says the clinic out in Saskatchewan has been overwhelmed with support. “It’s wonderful to see and because we are a national organization when there are times of need, we are able to ship blood back and forth. Something people can do right here in the region to help is donate blood locally.”

Willms says that some people are not aware that there is no replacement for human blood. “When there is a sick patient or somebody who has been involved in an accident or anybody who requires blood or a product that is made from blood — it can only come from donated blood.”

She says all blood types are needed. “The best blood type for a sick patient to receive is their own blood type, however, in an emergency situation two blood types that are commonly used are O-negative, which is the universal donor and O-positive which can be donated to all other positive types.”

Canadian Blood Services were expecting to see an increase in donors come out with people just wanting to support someway here at home, but unfortunately there was no increase seen in our region between Saturday April 7th and Monday April 9th. However, Guelph saw an increase in donors on that Saturday.

Every week Kitchener-Waterloo needs over 350 donors.

Willms adds that the need for blood never goes away, and if you’re unsure on how to donate head to their website.

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