By Meagan Kelly
Heidi Hoell is turning her passion for sports into a passion for charity.
Not only does the 19-year-old play soccer, volleyball, and hockey, she also makes time to donate blood.
A family member who won an award for blood donation has inspired her to try and donate every two months. Hoell also makes her mark by getting fellow sports enthusiasts involved too.
“About half my team donated once and they almost passed out because they had a game after,” she says.
“They are the healthiest people in the community being so active and fit.”
She was one of many athletes to come by Ottawa’s only permanent blood donor clinic on Carling Avenue on Sept. 29.
It was Hoell’s third time donating blood, but it was the first time Canadian Blood Services specifically targeted the sports community in Ottawa.
“We were not just looking at the athletes themselves, but coaches and team managers and sports volunteers. You know, scorekeepers and all those people that come out,” says Karie Dufour, the co-ordinator of the clinic.
Dufour says Canadian Blood Services is always creating partnerships, but they decided to focus on sports because of its presence in Ottawa. They also wanted to attract young and healthy donors.
“It’s a really win-win situation for us to target those groups,” says Dufour.
While athletes are in no short supply in Ottawa, blood is. Dufour says a lot of blood donors cancelled their appointments this summer, and the heat wave likely kept people from coming out to donate.
Canada needs to collect 80,000 units of blood each year to keep up with demand.
Fifty two per cent of Canadians say they know someone, either a family member or a friend, who needs blood.
Canadian Blood Services reached out to the sports community by contacting teams all across the city, and asking for help from organizations like the Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Frisbee Association.
Each year the group holds the Spirit Ultimate Charity Tournament, a one-day event for 400 ultimate frisbee athletes. Organizers of the tournament usually work with four charities at this event, and this year, they helped blood services get their message out.
Amy Read, the co-ordinator of the tournament, says encouraging the sports community to donate blood is smart thinking.
“I think with local sports teams, there is generally camaraderie. I play soccer and hockey and there is a team player aspect when you play organized sports,” says Read.
“I think everyone wants to [donate blood] for charity. Sometimes they are not motivated to do it as an individual, so as a team, I think it can be very effective.”
The Saturday afternoon drive collected about 30 units of blood.
Dufour says that is about average for a weekend clinic. She had hoped for more, but says she is not disappointed, adding this was only the beginning of the new partnership.
“We are happy to have made connections in the sports community,” she says. “This is basically the most direct way you can help somebody. There are not many things you can do that only take an hour and potentially save three lives. “