Québec eliminates upper age limit for donors

You know the population is aging when they want your blood until you drop! On 31 October 2004 Héma-Québec (the blood supplier in the Canadian province of Québec) will eliminate the upper age limit for donors.

There are several safety criteria involving approval from the donor's physician but it seems that so long as "the bod is warm" and you are in good health, you can now be a life-long blood donor.

A few statisics to ponder:

• According to Statistics Canada, in 2004 ~5.6 million (17.7%) of Canada's total population of 32 million are over 60.
• In Canada only 3.7 % of eligible people are blood donors. By comparison, 6% of Britains donate blood; in the USA, Ireland and Japan, the figure is ~5%, while in Taiwan, it's 7.5 % - nearly double the total in Canada.
  

With demographics like these we definitely need our oldsters - tried and true donors with multiple donations to their credit, to continue to give, and give, and give.....

Resources:

• CBS press release (June 2004): Less than four out of every 100 eligible Canadians donate blood each year
• Statistics Canada: Population by age & sex

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