Canadian Blood Services Needs Type O Neg Blood

I received this email today from Canadian Blood Services:

I am writing to ask for your help.

You are one of only 7% of Canadians with O Negative blood. You are part of a select group whose donations are compatible with all blood types; you hold the title of universal donor.

In an emergency situation, such as a car accident, your blood can be given to patients in need when there is no time to check their blood type. For this reason, we need O Negative donations more than any other right now so we are asking you to help us find others that share your blood type.

Chances are that other members of your family have type O Negative blood as well. Please encourage them to call 1 888 2 DONATE (1-888-236-6283) and book an appointment today. If they are unaware of their blood type, this will be determined when they donate.

It may be that you will be in need of blood yourself someday, and type O recipients can only receive type O blood. By encouraging other family members who share your blood type to start donating, you can help ensure we have a healthy supply of O Negative blood now and into the future.

On behalf of patients in need, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Dr. Graham Sher
Chief Executive Officer

I try to make a blood donation every 2 months.  My next trip is in a couple weeks.  All it takes is a little time out of my schedule.  One donation has the potential to save 3 lives and they thank me with cookies.  How awesome is that?

So I want to encourage anyone and everyone who is reading this and able, to call your local blood services and make an appointment to donate.  Don't stop there.  Spread the word and encourage others to do the same.  Maybe we could even arrange some blood drives at our places of work. 

The last time I went there was a man there making his 200th donation!!!  If he had never missed a donation opportunity (every 63 days) that would still have taken 34.5 years!!!!  Let's try to get more people working towards the 200 club.  We'll take it one cookie at a time!