Canadian Blood Services has put out an urge for donors to come forward and fill appointments in order to meet needs before the end of the summer.

"Over the course of the summer months, we see a decrease for our donors coming in to donate with Canadian Blood Services," said Shannon Elliott, Territory Manager in Calgary with Canadian Blood Services, "Nationally, we need about 25,000 appointments filled before the Labour Day long weekend. Of those appointments, about 1180 are to be filled in Calgary. The thing about Airdrie is our donor base in Airdrie is fantastic and very loyal, so we do have an upcoming clinic on August 29, and it's fairly full. We only have two appointments left to be filled."

Elliott said that Airdronians have done a good job of filling up clinics during July and August, months when they usually see a dip in donors as regulars go away for vacation.

While Airdrie has so far played its part in filling clinic appointments, Elliot said she's hopeful that residents will go above and beyond to help fill the need. Airdrie's next clinic is not until September 22, well after Labour Day.

Elliott hopes Airdronians will consider driving south to fill some of Calgary's vacant appointments, donating at either their new clinic at Eau Claire Market, which has appointments six days a week, or at a clinic in northwest Calgary at the North West Family Church on Friday evening (September 1).

Elliott also said they do have a special need for donors that can supply a specific type of blood.

"One of the needs we have right now is for donors that are O-negative. Right now we have just over a three day supply of O-negative blood and we usually like to be sitting with between five to eight days on the shelf, especially going into the long weekend to meet up with the hospital demand."

 

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