If you are considering the gift of life through a blood donation, Canadian Blood Services will be on York’s Keele campus from Jan. 25 to 29. The clinic will take place in Central Square/East Bear Pit, and will run daily from 11am to 4pm.
A photo from a 2013 blood drive when members of the York Lions football and women’s rugby teams made donations
Each year, York shows its community spirit by saving lives through hosting a blood drive on campus. On average, one unit of blood helps three people, so our donations will be used to help hundreds of people in the Greater Toronto Area.
What would it take to make you give blood?
• If you knew you knew you could save a life – would you?
• If you knew only 3.5 per cent of eligible Canadians gave blood – would you give?
• If you knew patients in our area hospitals use at least 650 to 700 units of blood each day – would you help them by donating blood?
• What if you knew cancer patients use an average of eight units of blood products each week during their treatment?
For more information on how to become a donor, or to schedule an oppointment to donate during one of their many clinics throughout the community, visit bloodservices.ca or call 1-888-2-DONATE.
OneMatch stem cell registration event
Consider saving a life a different way by joining Canada’s unrelated stem cell registry called OneMatch. Canadian Blood Services, which will be on campus Jan. 25, 26, 28 and 29 from 11am to 4pm, is inviting people to take part in a “swab event” in Central Square/East Bear Pit.
OneMatch is a program dedicated to recruiting healthy, committed volunteer donors for patients in need of a stem cell transplant. Hundreds of Canadians require a donor for a stem cell transplant every year and more than 75 per cent of them will rely on someone they don’t know to help save their life.
Right now, up to 1,000 Canadian patients are waiting for stem cell transplants to treat potentially life-threatening illnesses such as leukemia. Currently, there are just over 335,000 potential donors registered on Canada’s network, but more are needed so a greater percentage of patients can live.
Those interested will need to fill out a health questionnaire and have a swab of the inside of their cheek taken, which will take about 10 minutes.
To join the registry, you must be between the ages of 17 and 35, be in good health, have valid provincial health care and be willing to help any patient in need.
For more information on OneMatch, visit bloodservices.ca.