Blood donor clinic cancellations set a record this winter

Canadian Blood Services says it's desperate for blood donations after the long weekend and the cancellation of 23 blood donor clinics in the province this winter.

Peter MacDonald, the Atlantic director for the agency, said the winter has caused a record number of clinic cancellations across the region.

"Last winter was our worst winter ever where we cancelled 44 clinics, so certainly it was a record that we weren't looking to break," he said.

"But we did this winter, with 60 cancellations, which means that 2,300 units of blood that we planned to collect, were not collected this winter."

So far, he said, there has be no effect on patient care so far because they were able to import blood from elsewhere in Canada.

"The worrisome part is having it available from other regions and in those winter conditions getting it here was a challenge on a few occasions," he said.

"We were fortunate that we were always able to restore our inventory from the national inventory, but relying on it in those iffy weather conditions can be a nail-biter."

But he said it will likely take until mid-May for the region to restock its blood supplies.

"Atlantic Canadians are generous and we are always self sufficient with our inventory in our region. And what that means now is we are working to restore self sufficiency," he said.

"It is going to take us another six or eight weeks to recover from winter."

Canadian Blood Services is collecting blood on Monday at the Fredericton Inn and at its permanent site on Mapleton Road in Moncton.

The blood agency said only about four per cent of Canadians are active blood donors. Even when people sign up to give blood, MacDonald said about 40 per cent cancel their appointments.

"We need folks who have appointments in the coming weeks to honour them," he said.

"We need people who have considered blood donation or haven't given it quite some time to maybe take it on in 2015."