Some people living in Margaree, N.S., have a good reason to donate blood. “It was a child that was going through leukemia treatment,” said Angie Carroll, who, along with others in the rural area along the Cabot Trail, wanted to host a blood donor afternoon this past spring to try to help the child. Carroll said she contacted Canadian Blood Services but was told it wouldn’t work. “I called various times and they said, ‘No,’ that we were not close enough and any place that was local was not close enough for them to get a safe supply of blood to wherever they wanted it,” Carroll said. “It’s pretty discouraging,” said Cyril MacDonald of North Sydney, N.S. “Particularly because after you give, you get spammed with the, ‘It’s in you to give, it’s in you to give, you should give again, you’re allowed to give again,’ but it’s very inconvenient.” MacDonald has managed to donate in nearly every province since the blood donor clinic in Sydney was closed in 2015. At the time, the area’s population was in sharp decline, but MacDonald figures it has rebounded enough that a clinic might once again be sustainable. “I would say (Cape Breton Regional Municipality) and certainly Cape Breton Island has the population to support it,” MacDonald said. Since the donation centre on Grand Lake Road closed 11 years ago, the next nearby options have been mobile clinics in Port Hawkesbury and Antigonish – about two hours away – or the closest full-time clinic in Halifax, roughly a four-hour drive from Sydney. In a statement to CTV News Atlantic, Canadian Blood Services said while they are grateful for the ongoing and growing support for blood donation in Sydney, decisions on where mobile donation events are held or new centres open are made nationally. They added that among the factors considered are labour and transportation costs, distance to the nearest production site and overall system efficiency. “I think it’s terrible,” Carroll said. “I think they are losing a lot of rural people who would donate blood. If they’re short on blood donations, they’re losing a whole population that could donate blood.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
