Get Behind the Blood Signal
Canadians asked to go social and rally together this National Blood Donor Week
June 10, 2013 (OTTAWA) – Canadian Blood Services is asking Canadians to get Behind the Blood Signal when the blood drop shaped icon is activated during National Blood Donor Week, June 10-16. The Blood Signal is intended to connect people to the idea of making a donation at specific times of the year when the need for blood is greatest—like summer. Behind the Blood Signal was chosen as this year’s theme for National Blood Donor Week to educate more Canadians that when they see the Blood Signal, it means “give blood now.”
Throughout National Blood Donor Week, we’re also asking Canadians to “go social” in supporting the Blood Signal by:
- Visiting Mosaic Me at www.mosaicme.ca. Individuals can post pictures of themselves donating, promoting or otherwise supporting patients through blood donation that will form in the shape of the Blood Signal.
- Checking out www.facebook.com/CanadasLifeline at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, June 10 for the launch of a new Behind the Blood Signal video. Please “like” and “share” the video as your way of getting Behind the Blood Signal.
- Throughout the week donors are also encouraged to check in at blood donor clinics using their mobile devices as another way of showing they are getting Behind the Blood Signal.
This year, patients at almost 450 hospitals across Canada are depending on blood donors to help save or improve their lives from trauma, disease and other illness. To meet their needs, Canadian Blood Services forecasts that it must collect almost one million units of blood, plasma and platelets from both new and existing donors.
The National Blood Donor Week Act was passed by the Government of Canada in 2008 to recognize and celebrate volunteer blood donors. World Blood Donor Day, a campaign led by the World Health Organization, is always celebrated that same week on June 14.
Donors who give blood during Blood Signal are eligible to give again at the beginning of August. To book an appointment, go online to www.blood.ca or call 1 888 2 DONATE (1-888-236-6283). Making an appointment now will help lay the foundation for strong blood collections that will meet patient needs this summer.
Patient needs by the numbers
We need communities to rally together because it can take many donors to help save even one hospital patient. For example:
- Up to 5 donors a week to help someone who is in cancer treatment
- Up to 50 donors to help someone in a car crash
- Up to 2 donors to help someone who needs brain surgery
- Up to 5 donors to save someone who needs cardiovascular surgery
- Up to 2 to 8 donors to help someone with internal bleeding
- Up to 2 donors a day to help someone undergoing a bone marrow transplant
- Up to 4 donors a month to help someone with Aplastic Anemia
- Up to 2 donors for a repeat hip replacement
- 30 -