Bloody business

The lack of a blood donation site in Labrador West has left many residents wondering why.

However, according to Sharon Bala, communication specialist with Canadian Blood Services, it's just too costly and complicated to set up a blood donation clinic in Labrador.

"It's certainly the case that no matter where you are looking at in the country: it's more logistically challenging and less cost-efficient to run mobile clinics that are further away from a permanent centre and also further away from the production site," she said.

There are three permanent sites in Newfoundland, she informed, including St. John's, Corner Brook, and Grand Falls-Windsor, and the production lab is in St. John's where all blood has to come through before it's distributed in hospitals around the country.

Mobile sites are run close to permanent clinics, she explained, because farther away you get, the more costly it is and difficult to pack up and ship staff, blood, and equipment to a permanent site.

Blood also has a very short time frame to get to the processing facility, Bala added, keeping in mind that it is also a perishable item.

Canadian Blood Services, she explained, is a national not-for-profit charitable organization funded by provincial and territorial ministries of health, so they have to be cognizant of how they use their money and running a clinic in Labrador wouldn't be cost effective.

"Although we don't collect blood from Labrador, we do supply all the hospitals in Labrador," she said.

"Regardless of whether or not we collect blood in your specific community," she added, "Rest assured when you need it, the right product will be there for you at the right place, at the right time."

Bala explained that people should never think that they're not doing their part because they are not able to donate.

She said that people have options open to them like donating if they're travelling close to a clinic, which they can inquire about at 1-888-2DONATE, or joining the stem cell and bone marrow registry at onematch.ca.