The pandemic has taken its toll on blood donations across the country.

Corey Matheson, the Community Development Manager at Canadian Blood Services says there are 31,000 fewer regular donors since 2020. He suspects there are several factors contributing to the decline.

“I know some of them have maybe aged out a bit of the system,” said Matheson. “People have many other different reasons they can’t donate, could be health, but also I think a lot of it was people were staying close to home, the pandemic.”

Donations remained strong for the first two years of the pandemic when restrictions were in place and people had to call ahead to book an appointment, so Matheson was surprised to see the drop in donors this year.

“We managed to get through the last two years, but it was this summer when we noticed, I don’t know if it’s fatigue of the whole thing, but the numbers really took a drop,” said Matheson.

Canadian Blood Services supplies blood products to health services across Canada except for Quebec who have their own internal collection agency.

Matheson says the benefits of giving blood extend further than just one donation.

“We always said that one donation can save three lives. That is a true tagline because we make platelets, plasma, and red blood cells all from one donation.”

Canadian Blood Services currently has 18,000 open donation appointments across the country but it’s a different story in Liverpool where all appointments for the August 29 blood donor clinic are booked.

Matheson says Queens has a long history of giving blood but adds while it’s good to have all the appointments booked, it’s more important to keep those appointments.

“A lot of people are busy, a lot of people are at cottages, that sort of thing and they might forget to cancel it if they can’t make it. We understand people have lives,” said Matheson. “But if somebody has an appointment and they can’t make it, if they could cancel it within the next few days, that would be great because somebody else can book in.”

For information on upcoming donation clinics or to change your appointment head to the Canadian Blood Services website.

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