Alberta’s emergency crews compete to boost blood donations across province – CBC

First responders push for 5,400 donations in Sirens for Life effort

Jan 03, 2024

It’s a different kind of Battle of Alberta. First responders across the province are rolling up their sleeves in a friendly competition to see who can encourage the most people to donate blood this month.

It’s part of the annual Sirens for Life campaign, which kicked off for the 22nd year Wednesday morning. In Calgary, the goal is to bring in more than 500 new donors and collect more than 5,400 blood and plasma donations in January.

Police, firefighters, EMS and other first responders in Calgary are competing with their counterparts in Edmonton and Red Deer.

“We were the winners last year, and we’re hoping to be the winners again this year,” said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

“But the more important message is that January’s a really tough month for blood donations because a lot of people are away, a lot of people get sick, there’s weather issues, and so [Canadian Blood Services] sees a lot of appointments being cancelled.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/sirens-for-life-2024-1.7073493