Some former blood donors from Thunder Bay learned that the Canadian Blood Service was recruiting blood donors in a city in northwestern Ontario that did not offer a clinic. Some say they are unsatisfied.
"It's very frustrating," Murphy told her CBC News.
"It's almost insulting because there's so much pressure to give me what I can't give. There's a kind of guilt there, this desperate need, We need to give you, but they haven't offered us the opportunity to do so."
Canadian Blood Services announced the Thunder Bay We have stopped hosting mobile donor clinics inand have also closed plasma centers in the city.
Murphy, who regularly donated plasma, said he was disappointed with the move. We have a lot of socially responsible, community-oriented people willing to donate blood," she said.
"There are many healthy veins that are not being used." He said he was dissatisfied when he saw that he was buying blood products made from paid donor plasma from the United States.
"I have donated more than 70 times." she said. “And the clinic had people who were giving 100, 150 times. It was really frustrating to learn that he had left."
The Canadian Blood Service's Chief Supply Chain Officer and Vice President of Donor Relations said the lack of a clinic in Thunder Bay was " geographic constraints”.
The most needed blood product in hospitals today requires blood to be processed within 24 hours of collection, he explained Rick Prinzen .
Thunder The processing center closest to his bay is hours away.
The closest processing center to Thunder Bay is in Winnipeg, nearly eight hours away.
"If Thunder Bay, the first donor, were to host a four-hour collection event, the units would be in the collection center for at least four hours. Eight hours transit time. …and there is production processing time,” said Prinzen .
"When you add it all up, it's very tight — Not impossible, but I admit it's difficult."
Canadian Blood Services are considering partnering with private companies that pay for plasma donations to help with the shortage of adequate plasma supplies.45}
Confronted with why his institution is not striving if it is desperate for donors, as the complaint suggests, Prinsen said he is focusing on communities where he can achieve the best results. Number of available bed hours per 1,000 population.
"We look at the market and say 'Can we gather the expected target or available market potential?'" he said. said.
"Thunder Bay — I don't mind being pretty candid — was a bit challenging in that regard. Market potential was available
The cost of setting up a blood processing center in the city would be exorbitant, said Mr. In addition, its aim to increase the number of indigenous stem cell donors.
But registration as a stem cell donor can be done online or by mail, according to Prinzen, and without going to a clinic, people can access what the agency calls "Canada's lifeblood." is a way to contribute.