People living in Prince George and Kelowna are more likely to give blood than anywhere else in B.C., according to data from Canadian Blood Services.
The agency provided data to the Vancouver Sun on the number of people who gave blood in the past 12 months from every postal-code area of the province. The Sun then compared that against population figures from the most recent census.
Across B.C., about 55,000 people gave blood over the past year, which works out to about 126 donors per 10,000 residents.
But in most of Prince George, covering three of the four local area codes (V2N, V2M and V2K), blood donation rates are more than twice that high. The Kelowna neighbourhoods in the V1V and V1W postal codes also have donation rates roughly double the provincial average.
The high rates in Prince George and Kelowna are somewhat surprising given that, while both cities have permanent blood clinics, their hours aren't all that convenient. The Kelowna clinic is only open three days a week, plus every other Saturday, while the clinic in Prince George is only open two days a week.
In contrast, the Oak Street clinic in Vancouver is open six days a week.
Ed Yee, director of supply chain operations for B.C. and Yukon, said Blood Services has noticed that, assuming a clinic is available, donation rates tend to be higher in rural areas than urban ones. One reason for that, he thinks, is that the agency simply has more competition for people's attention in urban areas.
"Within urban markets like Vancouver or Toronto ... there are more options for activities, there are more options for your time," he said.
Another factor, said Yee, is how difficult it is for people to get to a clinic.
"One, certainly, is a convenience factor. I think that when you get into a smaller community like a Prince George or Kelowna, it's easier to get around. Vancouver's traffic is notoriously challenging," he said.
Indeed, it's striking, when looking at donation rates within Metro Vancouver, what a difference being close to a clinic appears to make.
Metro Vancouver's highest blood donor rates can be found in the area around Cambie Street (V5Z), directly adjacent to the Oak Street clinic, and in the downtown neighbourhood of V6C, where Blood Services runs a three-day-a-week clinic on Dunsmuir.
The only exception is Guildford (V3R), which has a three-day-a-week clinic on 101st Avenue but still has donation rates below the provincial average.
Rates in many east Vancouver neighbourhoods are also well below the provincial average, despite the fact they're only a 10- or 15-minute drive to the Oak Street clinic.
"It's a really good question. I'm not sure I have the exact answer why someone in east Vancouver doesn't want to drive 15 minutes to Oak and 33rd," said Yee.
Yee said it may be that convenience is a bigger factor in blood donations than we assume.
"A donation is probably an hour process from the time you check in to the time you leave," said Yee. "If you live in east Vancouver, the thought of adding 15 minutes to an hour process, may just (be enough) to not do it."
Yee said it's also possible that living close to a blood clinic -- and driving by it every day -- reminds people to make an appointment to donate.
To help make blood donation more convenient, said Yee, Blood Services has tried to offer more weekend clinics and makes use of mobile clinics that show up on a regular basis in communities without a permanent one.
"A few years back we talked about putting a permanent clinic in Abbotsford, because that's where a lot of the growth is," said Yee. However, demand for blood products has stabilized in recent years, so the clinic wasn't deemed necessary.
According to The Sun's analysis, the lowest blood donor rates in the province can be found in the north, outside of Prince George, and in the Kootenays. However, there's a good reason for that: people living in those areas basically have nowhere to go to donate blood.
Blood Services has mobile blood clinics that operate in Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan. However, there are no mobile clinics operating in the Kootenays or the north, leaving few options for people there who want to donate.
In addition to providing blood donor data by postal-code area, Blood Services also provided The Sun with donor data by age and gender.
It suggests that those in their early 20s are most likely to donate blood. Donation rates then dip as people enter their 40s before bouncing back somewhat among those in their 50s.
Yee said this may be another indicator of how important convenience is in determining whether or not someone donates blood.
"As people have young families and careers, there are a lot of competing things," he said. "Then, as you mature, you begin to realize that it's important to give back to the community ... and we see our middle-aged donor base spring back to life."
The data also shows that blood donation rates are almost identical for men and women. That's in contrast to similar data from B.C.'s organ donor registry, which showed women were about a third more likely to be signed up as organ donors than men.
So why aren't women more likely to donate blood, too? One possibility is that women are more likely to be disqualified as potential blood donors: They are much more likely to suffer iron deficiency anemia or to weigh less than 110 pounds, the minimum weight to give blood.
While tens of thousands of people donate blood in B.C. each year, most of the blood products in the province come from a smaller, more dedicated group of repeat donors.
Data provided by Blood Services shows that those who donate blood three or more times a year make up less than a third of all donors but account for nearly 60 per cent of all the blood donated in B.C.
Yee said such "hard core" donors are often motivated by a past experience with the blood system: either they, or a loved one, received donated blood once and they want to give back. Others simply have a "strong sense of volunteerism."
The data provided by Blood Services only included total donor counts by postal-code area, gender and age. It did not contain personal information on individual donors.
