A report came out from Canadian Blood Services last month that the number of donors country-wide has plummeted to its lowest point in a decade. Locally, that does not appear to be the case.

Brett Lawrence, Community Development Manager for Manitoba Mobile says Portage la Prairie has one of the strongest donor bases out there.

"In Portage la Prairie, our target is about 96 units and we have about 134 appointment slots," says Lawrence. "We're looking at almost 100 people donating blood to help patients in need, monthly, in Portage la Prairie."

Their last blood clinic was taking bookings three months in advance. That's also the case for the next two clinics, scheduled for July 11th and August 22nd. Lawrence says Portagers have made a difference.

"I really want to take this time to thank donors for coming out and already booking ahead," says Lawrence. "In the last two years of this pandemic, we've been able to collect monthly in Portage la Prairie because people just continue to show up to help patients in need."

He says not all communities in Manitoba are having the same success, and they are urging people in those towns and cities to make it a community event, noting it's a great social activity that saves lives. Across Canada, about 1-in-2 are able to give blood, but only about 1-in-81 do. Across the province, 3,000 new donors are needed in Manitoba each year.

If you did not sign up for one of the next few clinics, Lawrence says consider calling ahead to see if there are any openings, noting cancellations happen all the time. You can find more information on the blood clinics by going to blood.ca or by calling 1-888-2-DONATE (1-888-236-6283).

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