A message from Canadian Blood Services:
As you may have heard, Canadian Blood Services issued a call for support on March 16 after attendance and collections at our clinics were impacted by the COVID19 pandemic. Some donation events were cancelled as municipal facilities, many of whom were hosts to our events, closed to the public on short notice. Since then, we have seen a notable increase in blood donations that has helped maintain the blood inventory in the short term, and we thank donors for their generosity.
The need for blood goes on and we must make adjustments to uphold our promise to Canadians: to help every patient, to match every need, to serve every Canadian. We wish to assure Canadians that is it not only safe to donate blood during COVID19, it’s critical for patients who rely on blood and blood products every day.
Following the advice of Public Health Agency of Canada, we are doing our best to ensure employees who work in our donor centres are healthy. We are taking proactive steps to limit risk of infection to donors, volunteers and staff. Canadians rely on us to keep the blood supply system safe and we take this responsibility seriously.
Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has required us to add new requirements for the safety of donors, staff and the blood supply. In addition to enhance cleaning measures, wellness stations and physical distancing measures, we will only be welcoming people with appointments to our donor centres and mobile events at this time. This measure will enable us to minimize the number of people inside our facilities and pre-screen all who come through our doors through the pre-screening questionnaire provided when appointments are booked.
These mentioned measures also result in careful evaluation of the locations for mobile donation events for a wide range of factors to ensure the most appropriate collection of blood, donor care and staff requirements. For these reasons, and to be in compliance with the Public Health Agency of Canada’s direction to enable physical distancing, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our upcoming donation event in Orillia scheduled for Thursday April 9th at the Best Western Plus Mariposa Inn.
We truly regret any time we have to postpone or cancel a donor centre, which can happen for a number of reasons, and we appreciate the understanding of both donors and our hosts in this unusual situation.
Having a permanent donor centre nearby in Barrie will allow those area residents who are in good health an opportunity to continue to donate. Donors who have booked appointments in Orillia will be notified and we encourage them to book appointments at their convenience in Barrie. No one can predict how long the COVID19 pandemic will affect our ability to resume normal operations. If additional donation events need to be cancelled or moved to a different location, you would be contacted by Canadian Blood Services.
You can always call 1-888-236-6283 or visit our website www.blood.ca to confirm available clinics. The Orillia community has been a stronghold of support for our organization and we thank you for supporting Canada’s Lifeline.
