A northern B.C. group hopes to convince Canadian Blood Services to open a blood plasma donation clinic in Prince George.
Such a clinic would add to the domestic supply of plasma at a time when 80 per cent of it comes from outside the country, says Mark Karjaluoto, one of those behind ourbloodcounts.com.
"We've just been through a global pandemic in which it came to supplies of personal protective equipment, vaccines being sort of everyone for themselves. This effort is to to to make sure that we are more self sufficient in medication plasma," he said.
Plasma makes up more than half a person's blood, carrying antibodies, proteins and clotting factors which can then be concentrated into medications for medical emergencies.
It is collected in the normal way a person would donate blood. Specialized equipment is then use to extract plasma after which red blood cells and platelets which make up the other portions of whole blood are returned to the donor.
Once collected, it can be turned into immunoglobulins for patients with kidney and liver diseases, cancer, immune deficiencies and rare blood disorders.
Karjaluoto said Canadian Blood Services, which replaced the Red Cross as the collector of blood, has already signalled its intent to open blood plasma clinics elsewhere.
"Canadian Blood Services, and this is on their website, say they need 100,000 new blood donors a year. And the of the two of us speaking in this conversation right now, one of us is going to need a blood or blood product. But ultimately, in the community, only one person out of 16 is ultimately giving," he said.
Ourbloodcounts.com has only had a petition up for short time but has already gathered up just over 900 signatures of support.
Karjaluoto said more than half were previous donors and that a vast majority of these respondents said they'd consider donating again.
"We've had people talking about how they have personally benefited from a blood donation or have had family members who have benefited so that's pretty gratifying to see," he added.
Karjaluoto also stressed that a donation centre in Prince George would appeal to donators from smaller centres who travel to Prince George for any number of reasons.
"What we're seeing and what we're hoping for with the petition is that people who have been responding to it are ready to roll up their sleeves and have a needle. They could be making a difference," he said.
A donation centre in Prince George would not be a new concept. Canadian Blood Services had a whole blood donation centre there from 1998 to 2015.
And when the Red Cross was responsible for blood collection, it regularly hosted mobile clinics in the region.
In response, Canadian Blood Services acknowledges that there is a shortage of immunoglobulins, which are medications made from plasma.
Its goal is to produce at least half of the supply in Canada by opening additional donor centres.
But, the agency continued, Prince George and area will not make the cut.
"More remote geographic locations, like Prince George, present substantial logistical hurdles. Also, the current census metropolitan area population of Prince George, which includes neighbouring communities in the region, is below what is required to support a plasma donor centre," the agency added in a statement.
"We understand not having the opportunity to donate blood or plasma in your home community may be disappointing for some. While it鈥檚 not feasible for Canadian Blood Services to operate a donor centre in all communities, we manage a national inventory and move blood products across the country so that patients in communities like Prince George receive lifesaving products at local hospitals when they need them."
And while it may not open a donor centre in the north, it does encourage people to donate financially as Canadian Blood Services is a registered charity found at blood.ca.
