As we continue through the holiday season, there's one gift that's always in demand: blood.
About every minute, someone in Canada needs a blood transfusion.
It's disturbing to learn then that a sizable portion of the population can't donate needed blood or bone marrow because they don't speak English or French.
Apparently, Canadian Blood Services can't accept blood from these people because of concern over their inability to accurately answer sensitive questions about their health and lifestyle that could affect the safety of the blood supply.
The service says it doesn't have either the staff to translate applications or nurses who speak multiple languages.
In a province where more than a quarter of the residents don't speak English or French as a first language, it's a significant issue.
Especially since the best chance of finding a match for some products like bone marrow is within a recipient's own ethnic group.
We'd have thought Canadian Blood Services would try harder to accommodate our multi-racial and multi-lingual reality. The language barrier isn't one that can't be overcome.
As far as safety is concerned, while many questions asked of donors help to pre-screen blood, afterwards the blood itself is tested for hepatitis, AIDS and a variety of other diseases.
The existing pool of blood donors is becoming older and fewer.
If the Canadian Blood Service hopes to do its job in the future, it's going to have to make changes.
We need new blood, literally!
This year, in British Columbia , Canadian Blood Services will need to collect 1,200 red blood cells or platelet donations by January 4th to help meet hospital needs.
For all of Canada, call Canadian Blood Services at 1-888-2-DONATE (1-888-236-6283) for blood donor clinic information, eligibility information or to book an appointment.
Source: Chilliwack Times
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