Canadian Blood Services seeing ‘very drastic dip’ in blood donations locally
Canadian Blood Services seeing ‘very drastic dip’ in blood donations locally
Canadian Blood Services in Kitchener-Waterloo are making a plea to the public after they say donations dried up following a surge over the holidays.
Edward Fulton said he donates every couple of months.
“The reason I do it is my mom needed a lot of blood because she had progressive leukemia so she asked if family would do it. So I started ever since, so [2007],” said Fulton.
Repeat donors make up only a small portion Canadian Blood Services receives.
“Typically where we get a huge bulk of our donors from each year is new donors. So this comes from secondary and post-secondary schools, which we unfortunately have not been able to return to,” said Gina Leyva with Canadian Blood Services.
The organization said they rely heavily on mobile clinics with the location on Bridgeport Road in Waterloo being their only permanent spot in the Tri-cities.
Due to the pandemic, the mobile clinics have not returned to schools, as many students are studying online.
This is cause for concern, according to local clinic staff.
“Just after the holiday period, we saw a very drastic dip in blood donations,” admitted Leyva.
There are still about 250 appointments available next week. That’s half of the number of appointments they can accommodate.
“And for me, locally, I haven't seen a number like that in many months,” said Leyva.
Canadian Blood Services said they need more donations to carry them through the rest of the winter.
They’re grateful for donors like Sara Flamenco Martinez.
“I'm a nursing student as well so I get an idea of being out there in the field. I see people with blood transfusions – just the necessity for that,” said Flamenco Martinez. “It's just really unfortunate and I wonder why people aren't coming out.”
While local Canadian Blood Services staff said they have a big mountain to climb, they're hopeful they can get there because it just takes a bit of blood and a bit of time to save a life.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent end run around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has forced the House to spend the day debating a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
Four police officers were assaulted over the weekend while attempting to make an arrest in St. Thomas. Just before 9 p.m. on Saturday, police responded to a home in the north end of the city.
Lane restrictions are now in place on Wellington Street as construction gets underway on Phase 1 of the Wellington Gateway and Municipal Infrastructure Improvements project.
Police say they found the accused had been driving while under suspension and had an open liquor container in the vehicle, adding to the number of charges he faces.
According to officers with the Huronia West OPP detachment, a search of the vehicle turned up a "substantial amount" of suspected drugs with a street value of roughly $20,000.
A 46-year-old man has been taken to hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries after a single-vehicle crash on MR80 near Donaldson Crescent in Val Caron.
The city of Ottawa's planning committee has approved a housing development in Orleans after it was delayed due to concerns about the number of parking spaces.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) announced Monday morning that a third person has died in connection with the tragedy in Amqui, in the Lower St. Lawrence region, where a driver drove his pickup truck into pedestrians a week ago.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
The University of Prince Edward Island Faculty Association says its staff has gone on strike after what it says are failed attempts to enter additional negotiations with the university's administration.
The student union president at Cape Breton University said food insecurity has become a concern for many students and the on-campus food bank cannot keep up with demand.
Manitoba is planning to create an integrated missing persons response unit, sharing information between police agencies, CFS and Indigenous advocates when someone goes missing.
An 11-year-old boy was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition after being struck by a vehicle in the northwest Calgary neighbourhood of Royal Oak.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Jason Copping will give an update on the effort to import and distribute children's pain and fever medicine Monday afternoon.
The Town of Strathmore and Siksika Nation hosted the first Lead By Example Powwow this weekend in honour of a young Indigenous man who was shot to death four years ago.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
A vehicle burst into flames in South Vancouver after an early morning collision Monday, prompting police to shut down the intersection at Kingsway and Tyne Street amid an investigation.
People who rely on transit to get around parts of the Fraser Valley are scrambling to find alternatives as workers with BC Transit walk the picket line.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
