Retired nurse Joyce Crompton has donated blood over 450 times, a milestone only reached by 6 other Canadian women.
鈥淚 never thought I would get to 450 donations,鈥� Crompton, who started donating blood when she worked in the emergency department, told CTV Atlantic.
鈥淚t would be nothing for a car accident to be called in and they鈥檇 be looking for blood and where does the blood come from? It doesn鈥檛 come from a stone. Somebody has to give it.鈥�
But the new blood donation guidelines means women like Crompton can鈥檛 donate as often, which has had a knock-on effect to the Canadian blood supply.
The new iron eligibility level guidelines women have to wait 12 weeks between blood donations instead of eight.
鈥淲e鈥檝e changed the hemoglobin threshold and the interval has moved from 56 to 84 days. It puts more pressure on our donor base and the need to add more donors,鈥� Canadian Blood Services Peter MacDonald told CTV Atlantic.
The drop in eligible donors means that blood is even shorter supply, which is a cause of concern for the Canadian Blood Service.
The holiday season is an especially difficult time of year for the Canadian Blood Service as demand for blood can rise unexpectedly and supply is unpredictable.
鈥淐ertainly it always seems the need does increase this time of year because of accidents that happen and it is the Christmas season and there seems to be more of a need,鈥� donor Danie Forret told CTV Atlantic.
According to the Canadian Blood Services a total of 100,000 new donors are needed before March 2017 to maintain the national blood supply and meet the needs of Canadian patients who require blood transfusions.
鈥淎re we gonna find someone who takes on 450 donations?鈥� said MacDonald referring to Crompton, 鈥淣o, I think we need to find 10 people who are going to make 45 donations.鈥�
As of November, Canadian Blood Services reported they still need an additional 55,000 new donors but with only one in 60 eligible donors donating they will need to find a lot more donors like Crompton.
With a report from CTV Atlantic鈥檚 Mike Cameron.
