Blood Donor Clinic in P.G. to be Closed
Prince George, B.C. – The Canadian Blood Services clinic in Prince George is one of three permanent blood donor clinics in Canada that will be closed by June 1st.
Canadian Blood Services says there has been a “slight but steady” decline in demand for blood products as “health care systems adopt more efficient approaches to blood use and conservation”. Blood donation collection targets have been lowered to match up with demand.
The closure of the clinic will impact 13 part time and 4 casual employees and 50 volunteers says David Patterson, Director of Donor Relations for the B.C. Yukon Region..
The nearest place in B.C. for anyone from P.G. to donate blood, will be Kamloops.
Patterson says the access to blood supplies if needed, will not change, as all donated blood is sent to Vancouver for processing and distribution to hospitals throughout B.C.
Canadian Blood Services says the closure decision has been based on a variety of factors “Part of it is relating to costs” says Patterson, ” As we look at the costs involved in running our Prince George operations, we consider that we are a publicly funded organization and really have a mandate to use those funds as effectively as possibly.”
Comments
Of course……..now I can take my lear jet to Kamloops to give blood any time I want too.
Kamloops is a mobile clinic. Only comes a few days a month from Kelowna.
Interesting. I am pleased to read there is more than enough blood for those in need. I always had the impression that the demand was higher than supply. Guess I can toss the donor card and free up some space in my wallet.
Huge huge loss for our community
“Patterson says the access to blood supplies if needed, will not change, as all donated blood is sent to Vancouver for processing and distribution to hospitals throughout B.C”
Hmmm so when the big earthquake hits the lower mainland (it’s just a matter of time) the rest of the province will have no blood supply .
Now there’s a good idea … not
As with any disaster in any province, they would import from another province, or ultimately another country such as the U.S.
Always seemed like a real heavy bureaucracy, changes every time you went in – questions , procedures etc. Karma at least for the landlords of the building, these vanc guys had no empathy for the bad lease the sally ann got nailed into.
Mobile solution makes much more sense..
Sad day for PG, we lose employment for a good 20 people, hopefully they have or can get something else lined up.
Sad to see that such a important part of our health system gets squished out because of the numbers game. Of course the bureaucrats can justify any position they take. Until they become the victim of someone else’s decision to nix them.
There goes any opportunity to have a blood donor drive against Kamloops now.
There is a lot of proud people in this town that give their blood to help others. So does this mean that it allows a community of 75,000 people to start their on blood clinic which meets and or exceeds the standards. Makes you wonder!!!
How many units of blood were collected out of Prince George. How much was it costing Canadian Blood Services????
What is the average cost of units of blood collected.
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