Cindy MacDougall
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 12/99) - Every year, hundreds of Yellowknife patients receive the gift of life -- blood or blood products donated by volunteers.

But that precious gift, just like the milk at the grocery store or the American brand-name clothes at the mall, does not come from the North. It comes from down south. Edmonton, in fact.

But Canada's blood agency says it is considering bringing one of its mobile donor clinics to Yellowknife.

Ian Mumford, vice-president of marketing and communication for Canadian Blood Services (CBS), said he does not know why Yellowknife has not had blood donor clinics in the past, since the Canadian Red Cross handled the clinics until 1998. He said he suspects it has to do with the expense.

"Cost would definitely be a factor," he said. "We'd have to transport the clinic, and then all the blood collected would have to be shipped to Edmonton for (disease) screening."

However, Mumford said the agency has been trying to branch out to new communities ever since CBS was created in 1998 to take over the blood system from the Red Cross.

"The managers at the Edmonton blood centre are considering many communities in the area," Mumford said. "If there's strong community support, and we could collect a significant amount of blood for donation, we will be looking at it."

However, Yellowknifers should not be worried about not having enough blood products, according to Robin Greig, Stanton Regional Hospital's manager of diagnostic and therapeutic services.

"We keep a fair amount of blood here in Yellowknife (sent from Edmonton)," he said.

Greig said shortages of blood are extremely rare, but the hospital does have a back-up plan in case a shortage of a certain type of blood ever happens.

"We do have an emergency donor list, but we very rarely use it," Greig said.

"In fact, we have only used it about once in the past five years."

Greig said the hospital will soon update its emergency donor list, and invited anyone interested in being on the list to drop by the hospital lab on Nov. 15 and Nov. 22 between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

"We'll take a few vials of blood, and send them to Edmonton to be tested for communicable diseases (such as HIV and hepatitis C)," he said. "We update the list once every six months."

As for starting a Canadian Blood Services clinic in Yellowknife, Mumford said any service groups that would like to host a clinic should contact the Edmonton blood centre, or visit the CBS Web site at www.bloodservices.ca

"We recognize there are probably hundreds of people in Yellowknife who would be willing to donate blood if given the chance," he said.