More Ottawa-area donors needed to avoid blood shortage, says Canadian Blood Services

Canadian Blood Services says it needs more donors in the Ottawa area if it wants to avoid a blood shortage in the capital region.

The non-profit organization put out a national call for blood donationslast week, saying winter storms caused donor clinics andappointments to be cancelledacross the country.

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Ottawa is also facing a potential shortage.

Canadian Blood Service's local manager said Tuesday that hospitalsneedan average of about 5,000 donations every two weeks. However, only about 2,700 blood-donor appointments are booked forthe upcoming two weeks.

"We're getting to the point where there could be a [blood] shortage," said Mary Ann St. Michael, at a clinic at Ottawa City Hall.

"We don't have a shortage right now. We have a shortage of people making an appointment."

St. Michael said thatin addition to the usual hectic holiday schedule,two additional issues are causing this Decemberto be a worse than in recent years: bad winter weather; and therecent decision to change the minimum time between donations for women from eight weeks to 12 so they can better replenish their iron levels.

St. Michael couldn't say at what pointa donor shortage would trigger a blood shortage.

Canadian Blood Services has a permanent donor clinic at its headquarters at 1575 Carling Ave. in Ottawa and 850 Gardiners Road in Kingston.

Wednesday there is a clinic at the Smiths Falls Civitan Club on Highway 15.