Rideau Park United Church

SA&O Information Bulletin

Social Action and Outreach Committee
Rideau Park United Church
July, 2004 (reissued July, 2005)

Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is a not-for-profit, charitable organization whose sole mission is to manage the blood and blood products supply for Canadians.

To this end, CBS:

• Collects approximately 800,000 units of blood annually and processes it into the components and products that are administered to thousands of patients each year.
• Manages the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry(UBMDR) whose mission is to secure, in an expeditious way, donors for Canadian bone marrow transplant patients and for patients abroad.
• Screens every donor and tests each unit of blood or blood product collected for a variety of transmissible diseases.
• Ensures that Canadian transfusion medicine research and development remains at the cutting edge.

CBS is committed to blood safety. In addition to the effective screening and testing processes, this pursuit of safety is reflected in every branch of its organizational structure and in each management and operational decision that is made.

You can't just help out when there has been a disaster. Every minute of every day, someone in Canada needs blood.

Despite Canadian Blood Services having turned around a 10-year decline in blood donation in Canada since assuming responsibility for the blood supply on September 28, 1998, it has become increasingly obvious that the demand for blood and blood products is rising faster than Canadians are donating.

On September 28, 2001, Canadian Blood Services launched the Canadian Blood Donor Challenge, calling on eligible Canadians to become regular donors by donating at least twice a year every year.

Between September 2001 and September 2002, a little over 70,000 people became new blood donors. Of those 70,000 new blood donors, 20,000 made a second donation within the same period. It's those second donations that CBS really want to see. CBS doesn't consider a person a regular donor unless he/she gives blood two or more times a year.

To meet demand, CBS projects that by the end of 2005 they will need a total of 600,000 Canadians to have become regular blood donors, donating twice a year or more every year, so that they can ensure an adequate supply of blood for all Canadians.

CBS is confident that Canadians will meet this challenge because they have done it before. The overwhelming response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and to the Pine Lake tornado in Alberta in 2000, prove that each of us can rise to this challenge.

Social Action and Outreach Committee ensures that Blood Donor Clinics being held in the Church area are made known to members.

For information contact:

Canadian Blood Services
Head Office
1800 Alta Vista Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 4J5
 
Tel.: (613) 739-2300
Fax: (613) 731-1411
E-mail Head Office

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"     Micah 6:8