Police and fire personnel emphasize the need for blood once again

The message is everlasting: Canadian Blood Services needs you to donate if you’re able.
 
RCMP and local Emergency Services personnel rolled up their sleeves Friday morning for another round of donations toward the Red Deer Sirens for Life campaign, which sees different emergency departments competing for the most donations.

 
It’s not Inspector Heidi Wild’s first rodeo at the blood clinic and as she points out, the need is exacerbated with the arrival of another summer long weekend.

“It is the stupidest thing anybody can do,” she says of driving impaired, something which always seems to increase when people have the extra day off. “It’s such an easy decision — don’t drink and drive, plain and simple. No good can come from it ever and all you do is end up hurting people — yourself, strangers, everyone. I don’t know why people continue to do it.”
 
Wild says everyday, emergency responders will attend to a scene where somebody is injured and is going to need blood. According to Canadian Blood Services, someone seriously injured in a car crash could need as many as 50 blood donations to save their life.
 
That experience also has an impact on our first responders.
 
“Anytime [a first responder] goes to a scene where somebody is injured, I think we initially go into work mode. You don’t have time to deal with the emotional part — you have work to do,” Wild says. “But there’s been lots and lots of talk about PTSD and the affects of having to deal with trauma all the time. First reponders are humans just like everybody else and we figure out how to cope with the stuff we see. For some, it’s easier than others.”
 
Donna Sherban, a City of Red Deer firefighter and inspector, has donated around a dozen times. She says giving blood hits close to home.
 
“It’s my nature, it’s part of my job. My mother had cancer when I was a child and she had gotten donations as well,” says Sherban. “Come out and give it a try, the staff here are great, they’re very encouraging. It could be a family member [that needs it] if somebody gets in an accident. It takes a short period of time and it’s just a good thing to do.”
 
Between now and August 31, Canadian Blood Services in Red Deer is looking to collect 1308 units of blood as well as attract 163 first-time donors.
 
Additionally, if members of the public donate blood, they can do so on behalf of their favourite emergency department, be it RCMP, firefighters or otherwise, to contribute to the Sirens for Life campaign.
 
To book an appointment, download the mobile GiveBlood app or visit www.Blood.ca.