Emergency service workers come together to give blood as the Sirens for Life 2019 challenge kicks off in Halifax

**** Info via Canadian Blood Services

Emergency service workers come together to give blood as the Sirens for Life 2019 challenge kicks off in Halifax.

Emergency service workers in Halifax Regional Municipality are continuing to answer the call to help save more lives as part of this year’s Sirens for Life campaign.

The friendly challenge between Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency, Halifax Regional Police, RCMP, and EHS runs the entire summer and the life-savers with the most collected donations wins the Sirens for Life trophy.

Canadian Blood Services is asking residents to join Canada’s Lifeline by donating blood in support of their local emergency services teams.

Emergency service workers often see the need for blood firsthand. Just one person who is seriously injured in a car crash could need as many as 50 blood donations to help save their life.

The goal for this year’s Sirens campaign is to collect 200 units of blood and recruit 50 new donors. The campaign runs for the entire summer.

Last year, Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency answered the challenge with 47 total units. Can HRP, RCMP or EHS beat that to win the trophy?

The main types of blood donation include:

• whole blood donation – a standard donation, consisting of plasma, red and white blood cells, platelets, antibodies and other components
• plasma donation – also known as apheresis. Plasma is separated from the other components by a special machine, and the red blood cells are returned to the donor in cycles throughout the donation
• platelet donation – known as plateletpheresis. This is done in a similar way to plasma donation, but both the red cells and plasma are returned to the donor.

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