Canadian Blood Services
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 Canadian Blood Services facts

• A separate organization, Héma-Québec, operates in the province of Q
• A team of 4,300 staff and 17,000 volunteers help Canadian Blood Services operate 36 permanent collection sites, two bloodmobiles, eight OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network field sites and more than 22,000 donor clinics annually
• It was created in 1998 as a successor to the Canadian Red Cross blood program and the Canadian Blood Agency, on recommendation of the Krever Commission
• It took over the responsibilities of Canadian blood systems starting from September 26, 1998
• Canadian Blood Services collects approximately 850,000 units of blood annually and processes it into the components and products that are administered to thousands of patients each year through blood transfusions
• In addition to donating whole blood, some locations also offer platelets and blood plasma donations
• Canadian Blood Services is a quasi-non-government organization (QuaNGO) as 100% of its funding comes from the provincial and territorial ministries of health, provincial and territorial ministers of health appoint directors to its board, and its functions are regulated federally by Health Canada
• On August 12, 2008, Canadian Blood Services announced that it would work with the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation to significantly improve organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Canada
• Canadian Blood Services received government funding of $35 million over five years to proceed with this new mandate
• Canadian Blood Services is governed by an independent Board of Directors, who are recommended and appointed by provincial and territorial ministers of health