Mobile blood donor clinic done with Miscouche

The mobile blood donor clinic will pull away from Miscouche, P.E.I., Wednesday, and it won't be going back.

Canadian Blood Services has confirmed Wednesday wasthe last clinic for the village.

It is closing the UPEI mobile clinic program as well, meaning there will be no more mobile sites on the Island.

"All of our blood donor clinics are evaluated on a regular basis and we often make changes in order to collect our blood components and products more efficiently," said Michelle Rogerson, director for supply chain operationsfor the Atlantic Region.

"Many factors were taken into consideration when determining not to return to Miscouche so some of these factors include the number of units we collect, the labour and transportation cost to collect those units, and also the distance to the closest permanent site."

Rogerson explained that staff from Dartmouth, N.S. have to travel to P.E.I. to run the Miscoucheclinic three times a year, and that affects the bottom line.

"We are publicly funded so we have to collect the blood as efficiently as we can."

No concern for unit numbers

Rogerson said she understands the extra travel may have donors concerned, but Canadian Blood Services is hopeful this closure won't bring down collection numbers.

"When we factored in our collections targets for the next year, we knew that Miscouche wouldn't be in the plan, so we're looking to get more volume into our permanent collection sites, not only in Charlottetown but in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland as well."

The permanent clinic onFitzroyStreet in Charlottetown will continue to operate as usual.

Rogerson hopes those in the Western part of the province can work a donation in to times they may be in the city for other reasons.

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