Canadian Blood Services is tapping into Victoria’s bank of government employees during its neediest season.
Summer is typically when the agency is in most need of blood, because many of its regular donors are away and people are more active, often causing more accidents, said Jason Austin, manager at the CBS clinic on Saanich Road.
CBS has identified public servants, which form a significant part of Victoria’s workforce, as a group they want to push to donate.
Canadian Blood Services has teamed up with the B.C. Public Service Agency for a blood donation challenge, open to public servants at all levels of government. The Public Service Challenge aims to reach 2,000 donations across B.C. from July 13 to August 31, part of the blood agency’s bigger goal of collecting 27,110 donations province-wide this summer.
The challenge is an expansion of the Blood Services’ Partners for Life program, in which the government is a partner.
Another goal is to maintain the supply of blood by establishing consistent donors.
“We want to develop a pattern, to keep people donating after the challenge.” said Austin.
For the first time this year, the challenge also targets emergency service workers, who were previously part of another campaign.
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