Blood drives face challenge by new rules for women donors

Changes to blood donation rules will affect collection in Waterloo region, local officials say.

As of December 10, women will need to wait 12 weeks between blood donations, up from the current eight weeks, Canadian Blood Services announced yesterday.

The extra four week wait presents a challenge to blood clinics, said Tara Gutscher, the Waterloo region territory manager for the service.

In KW, "it could only be about 25 to 50 donations per week, but we do need up to 400 donations every week to meet our hospital targets, so it will be an impact depending on when females do decide to donate," Gutscher said.

"We need 348 new blood donors within the next four weeks just to help with the collections here locally, so it's really asking people who have never donated before to come out and give it a try and to help save lives."

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'Slightly stricter' hemoglobin test

Canadian Blood Services said it's changing the guidelines for iron levels "to further promote health and wellness among blood donors."

As part of those guidelines, the agency also announced both men and women will need to undergo a "slightly stricter" hemoglobin test as of March 5, 2017, men will have a minimum allowable hemoglobin level of 130 g/L, up from 125 g/L.

Canadian Blood Services said there is a need for 100,000 new donors across the country this year.

In a release, Michael Betel, director of donor relations in Ontario, encouraged people to help "fill this gap by giving blood and encouraging friends and family to make giving a part of their lives."