Donating blood can save a life

By Demii Niles

BELLEVILLE – If it wasn’t for someone who donated blood, Alyssa Boutilier says, her friend wouldn’t have survived his injuries from a recent car accident.

Boutilier, a first-year child and youth care student at Loyalist College, will be donating blood for the first time Friday. It’s a great cause because it can save someone’s life, she says.

Canadian Blood Services will be on campus in the Loyalist gymnasium to give students a chance to donate blood and determine their blood type.

“It’s extremely important to me,” Boutilier said. “Recently my friend was in a car crash and the only way he would have survived is if someone donated blood, and thankfully they had his type. He would have died without it.”

Needles terrified her when she was growing up, she said, but she has overcome that fear. More people should see if they are eligible to donate, she said.

The donation process takes 15 to 25 minutes. Your finger is first pricked with a needle and a few drops of blood are taken to determine your blood type. The whole appointment takes about an hour because it begins with a test to see if you are eligible to donate.

Debbi Barfoot, a territory manager for Canadian Blood Services, has been donating since she was 18.

“I donate blood personally as often as I can. I started donating blood when I was in high school and continued until I started my family.”

In an email interview, Barfoot said the first step is to raise awareness of the need for new and existing blood donors to join the process and help save lives. Men can donate blood every 56 days and women can donate every 84 days, she said. About 450 millilitres of blood is collected during a single blood donation.

There are a lot of positives to donating blood, she said.

“What greater gift is there than the gift of life? That’s exactly what every blood donation delivers. Blood and blood products are a critical part of everyday medical care, including major surgeries, medical procedures, cancer treatments and managing a disease.”