VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A 10-year-old girl in remission after being treated for leukemia and an 11-year-old boy still undergoing treatment paid a visit to Blood Services on Oak Street today as part of World Blood Donor Day.

Their visit comes with a reminder from Canadian Blood Services during the 10th annual National Blood Donor Week that while the summer months tend to bring a dip in blood donations, the need is no less great.

“The reality is that in Canada, one in two people is able to donate, but only one in 60 actually does,” says David Patterson with the organization’s BC and Yukon region.

“The need doesn’t stop when summer comes, and patients don’t get a vacation in the summer. So the need continues, and we certainly need more people particularity at this time of year to help fill those beds.”

Patterson adds roughly 100,000 new donors are needed every year Canada-wide just to keep their system up-to-date. This week alone, there are over 1,700 appointments to fill in BC clinics.

For information on how to donate, or to book an appointment, head to the Canadian Blood Services website.

Gay and bisexual men, transgender women still not allowed to donate

Many LGBTQ Canadians who may want to donate blood are still barred from doing so because of a policy which stipulated they have to have been celibate for at least one year.

“Canadian Blood Services needs to get out of the 1950’s and not have a policy that discriminates against gay, bisexual men and transgender women,” says Annette Toth with MoveUp, which has launched an online petition calling for the policy to end.

“This is a group of people that want to donate blood but can’t simply because of their sexual orientation. That’s discrimination in Canada, and it needs to stop.”

The federal Liberals promised to end to the ban during the last election campaign.

The MoveUp petition is open until July 17th.