Manitoba will have only one permanent blood donor clinic after Canadian Blood Services shuts down its Brandon location.
The last day for the clinic in Brandon will be June 8.
The closure was “a tough decision to make,” said Susan Matsumoto, director of Canadian Blood Services Donor Relations, Prairie Region.
Officials looked at a number of factors when making the decision, including the number of blood units collected, labour and transportation costs, and the distance from the nearest blood processing site.
Matsumoto said she’s “not at all concerned” this will affect the overall blood supply. “We would not jeopardize the blood provided to patients at hospitals when making that decision.”
“One of the benefits of being a national organization is we can import blood” from other provinces, she said.
A mobile donation truck will be coming to Brandon every two weeks, Matsumoto said.
For the past five years, the clinic has not been collecting its targeted amount of units. The target is 5,000 blood collections per year; typically, the clinic was collecting 75-85 per cent of that.
Matsumoto couldn’t say for certain why the donation rate was low, but suggested “perhaps the community wasn’t large enough to support that type of volume.”
It was one of the lowest performing permanent blood donation sites in Canada.
The closure means 17 employees will be laid off, including nurses, clinic staff and two donor service representatives. All positions were part-time, except for one.
Employees have the opportunity to apply to the donation site in Winnipeg - the only other permanent clinic in the province - if employment opportunities arise there.
Employees have been provided packages, including supports to help find a new job.
With files from Renee Rodgers
