More than 1,700 sign petition to halt closure of Brandon blood donor clinic
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/05/2017 (3073 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A petition to save Brandon’s blood donor clinic has been submitted to Canadian Blood Services with more than 1,700 signatures.
Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire launched the petition at the end of March, and surpassed his goal of 1,000 signatures within 24 hours. Since then, hundreds more have signed on, and it is now at 1,708.
“Westman residents are serious about keeping our blood clinic open,” Maguire stated in a press release. “There isn’t a day that goes by that someone hasn’t raised this issue with me.This petition shows that there is a large and active support base for the clinic to remain open and the mobile clinic to visit rural communities.”
The Brandon clinic will be closing in June, to be replaced by a twice-monthly mobile blood donor clinic that will drive in from Winnipeg, beginning June 15. Seventeen staff members will lose their jobs. The 11 Westman-area mobile blood donor clinics that are currently serviced out of the Brandon office will be discontinued during a scattering of dates leading up to the local office’s June 8 closure.
Since the announcement, Maguire met with Canadian Blood Services representatives in his parliamentary office to stress the need for the Brandon and Westman clinics.In that meeting, Maguire said he reiterated his position that they should reverse their decision to permanently close the clinic and layoff the staff.
“I will always stand up in Ottawa for issues that are important to Westman. I believe we must continue to advocate for the reversal of the decision on the blood clinic in Brandon and ensure that it remains open.”
Canadian Blood Services said a reason for the closure is that the Brandon office has not been collecting its targets for at least four years, only getting 75 to 85 per cent of the 5,000 units of blood per year they’d set as their goal.
Maguire is still encouraging those who want to keep the clinic open to contact the Canadian Blood Services directly at feedback@blood.ca, and to CC his personal email Larry.Maguire@parl.gc.ca.
» The Brandon Sun