SAANICHNEWS War for Saanich
Celts take the Square
Playoff hockey has Greater Victoria rinks buzzing as the Saanich Braves take on their Saanich Peninsula rivals. Sports, Page A21/Editorial, Page A10
Saturday’s Bastion Square Celtic Festival will keep you tapping your toes. Arts, Page A17
Friday, March 9, 2012
Gray Rothnie
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Blood on the water Kyle Slavin News staff
Blood donors in Greater Victoria know that there’s a lot riding on their donation. And soon their blood will be riding on something else: the nightly 9 p.m. ferry to Tsawwassen. The Canadian Blood Services (CBS) clinic on Saanich Road is about to make blood donations even more valuable. However, doing so will mean the collection bags can no longer be shipped by plane. Later this year the clinic will switch to a new system that can better collect platelets, vital for helping cancer patients around the province. “This will have a dramatic impact on people’s lives,” said Catherine Sloot, part■ It takes four blood nership specialist with the blood service. donations to make one bag Chemotherapy treatments can result in a of platelets for transfusion. loss of platelets, which help form clots or ■ One cancer patient may scabs on cut or broken skin. require up to five platelet Donated blood is flown to Vancouver transfusions a week. where it is broken down in a centrifuge ■ The Saanich Road clinic into multiple products, including red aims to collect 83 units of blood cells, plasma-based components, blood per day. and platelets. The latter separates into a ■ A small sample of each layer known as the buffy coat. donor’s blood is tested “Platelets only have a shelf life of five for HIV, hepatitis B and C, days. So the faster we can collect the syphilis, West Nile virus and (platelet-heavy) buffy coat … and get it to Human T-lymphotropic virus. hospitals, the better,” Sloot said. ■ Test samples will The new system essentially refines how continue to be flown out blood is stored, allowing the platelets a daily to the CBS testing lab better chance of survival while being transin Calgary. ported to Vancouver. The existing method favours red blood cell survival – blood donations are stored around 4 C, nearly 20 degrees colder than the temperature at which platelets should be stored. But the changes have logistical implications for distribution down the line. To better ensure platelets don’t perish on the trip to the CBS laboratory in Vancouver, Saanich clinic employee Sean Kenny will see changes to how he ships blood. Instead of packing styrofoam coolers with icepacks and blood bags, and sending them across the water every evening on a chartered flight, CBS is investing in refrigerator trucks with elaborate cooling trays. This will help keep the blood stored in the most opportune environment before it’s centrifuged at the Vancouver lab.
Did you know?
Don Denton/News staff
PLEASE SEE: Blood clinic improving distribution system, Page A14
Catherine Sloot, with Canadian Blood Services, holds a bag of donated blood above a stack of transport boxes at the clinic on Saanich Road.
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