Record number blood donor clinics cancelled by storms

Canadian Blood Services says 2015 has led to a significant drop in blood donations as they've had to cancel a record number of clinics because of extreme weather in the Atlantic provinces.

"That has really led to an unprecedented number of blood clinics being cancelled at different times," said Jacqueline Alain, the manager for western New Brunswick.

While she doesn't have an exact number, dozens of clinics have been cancelled in the last three months in the region. Alain said Wednesday's storm alone closed at least five clinics, including Halifax, Moncton, Charlottetown, Sydney and Saint John. She says clinics in Newfoundland and Labrador are also struggling.

"If we do have some mobile clinics who were scheduled in the community, for example today in Shediac, N.B., we had to cancel that event," she said. 

"If we're not able to collect on one day, it's really important to get folks who are thinking of donating to rebook their appointment."

Canadian Blood Services can temporarily dip into the national reserve to help out the needs of east coasters. But the organization says it's important to have new donations constantly coming in, as some parts of the blood that are used have a shelf life of just five days. 

"It's really important for us to start collecting blood at the community level as soon as we can," Alain says.

"We do want to ensure the safety of our donors and our employees and our volunteers. So if we have to, we do cancel our clinics but we want to get back to business as soon as possible after the storm."

Donations were off to a slow start in 2015 as many locations had dozens of vacant bookings over the holidays, leaving Canadian Blood Services asking for help to fill the spots.