The top two photos are from the clinic held in Brampton on Friday.
Current Events
Blood Donors Line Up In Gurdwara Clinic
by STEPHANIE FINDLAY & VALERIE HAUCH
A Brampton (Ontario, Canada) Gurdwara served Friday, April 6, 2012, as a blood-donor clinic designed expressly for Punjabi speakers, a first for Toronto - and Canada.
“We’re in the right spot, in God’s house,” said first-time donor Vicki Bagree.
Recruiting from various ethnic pools has become a top priority for the Canadian Blood Services (CBS).
“The majority of donors are 50-plus and Caucasian,” said Jennifer Mayhew, manager of donor services.
“We find that South Asians have a higher prevalence of the B-types, which is quite rare (in the blood bank).”
Though 20 per cent of Canadians identify as being part of an ethnic minority group, they represent only 7 per cent of blood donors.
Hence the gurdwara-turned-clinic, a great location for accessing an otherwise elusive community.
In total, 40 people attended the clinic held at the Sikh Lehar International Gurdwara, making the event a success, said Karry Kwan, a clinic coordinator.
CBS staff and volunteers were wearing head coverings and using surgical booties over their shoes, out of respect for Sikh beliefs.
In a neighboring hall, a preacher was doing an akhand paatth, a continuous three-day prayer. Beyond him, people were praying and chatting. A spread of food - curry, rice, pakoras, sweets and tea - was on a table.
Medical interpreters fluent in Punjabi were on hand, as well as some young volunteers, the majority of whom were bilingual gurdwara-goers.
The interpreters are a key part of the recruiting drive, helping to bridge language barriers. Historically, CBS was legally bound to explain the blood donation procedure and ask medical questions only in English and French.
But it’s exactly those medical questions that trip up new Canadians and prevent them from qualifying as donors. So, CBS petitioned Health Canada to allow the use of Cantonese interpreters (in Vancouver), and Punjabi (in Brampton).
Ten years ago, there weren’t many health-care providers using interpreter services, said Muhammad Shafique, himself an interpreter.
“But now at most hospitals they are using interpreters; that’s why people are more understanding of the policies and their rights and benefits,” he said.
The strategy seems to have worked. Many members of the community came to the gurdwara to volunteer and donate blood.
“It’s a really, really, really great thing,” said Kanwaljit Kaur. “My cousin’s wife was sick; she had a stroke. Do you know how much blood they had to give her? This is a very, very good thing to do,” she said.
“It is a good message, to give the gift of blood,’’ says Manjit Singh Mangat, a prominent Sikh lawyer and one of the organizers.
Manjit Singh had lost two litres of blood himself in 2010 in an injury from an attack by a mischief-maker in the community.
“I was badly injured. There was a lot of blood wasted,” he said. “Instead of fighting and wasting blood, we need to give blood.’’
Major Bagri was another first-time donor. He had never had the chance before, he said.
His nephew, 8-year-old Ravneet Singh, was watching from the sidelines.
“He’s not crying. He’s not that sad. He’s so middle-ish,” he said. “Even though it hurts, he pretends it doesn’t hurt at all.”
[Courtesy: The Toronto Star. Edited for sikhchic.com]
April 7, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Harkirat Singh (Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.), April 07, 2012, 8:40 AM.
Bizarre! The first in Canada? Well, I used to live in Canada, and now live just south of the border, a mere two hours away. I go to Toronto all the time and I have donated my blood at gurdwara-organized clinics in Toronto at least half-a-dozen times in the last few decades. How come this is being labelled the first? At least scores of such clinics have been held in Toronto, and elsewhere in Canada, for as long as I can remember! Are Sikh invisible in Canada?
2: Gursharan Kaur (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), April 07, 2012, 8:47 AM.
The only reason blood donations are low from the minorities is because Canadian institutions haven't learnt how to deal with its minorities. Look at their management teams ... they look like they come from pre-Mandela South Africa! The people who manage these institutions have no clue how to deal with the changing demographics of Canada (which has been changing and has been drastically changed for several decades now!) The only reason the CBS is turning to the minorities now is because the so-called mainstream is failing them. But more than that, its the executive and management of CBS and the likes that have failed us. You don't have to take my word: CBS is but a successor of the Canadian Red Cross which was only recently forced to disband and close its shop completely - after going virtually bankrupt! - all because of gross mismanagement!
3: Bill Kressom (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.), April 07, 2012, 8:53 AM.
Only 20% of Canada is ethnic? Hm-mm-mm-n. So, pray, who are the remaining 80%? Non-ethnic Martians? I thought Canada only officially recognized two ethnicities - English and French. Have both of them mutually wiped themselves out of existence through their perennial inter-ethnic dog-fights?
4: M. Jason (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), April 07, 2012, 9:00 AM.
I have worked in this field as a volunteer for much of my life. And I know that the Sikh community in Canada has been, through at least the last 30 years or more that I have been involved, one of the most generous and forthcoming communities in terms of blood-donor clinics, both in blood and monetary contributions. I am distressed by the poor reportage in this story, and hope someone will point out the inaccuracies and substandard research to the editors at The Star.
5: Baljit Kaur (British Columbia, Canada), April 07, 2012, 9:30 AM.
I can say with some certainty that the bottom two photos on this page are from clinics held in the West Coast of Canada from previous years. They are not recent, nor are they from Ontario.
6: B. Singh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), April 07, 2012, 12:21 PM.
An example of a report that on its surface appears positive but in reality is damaging to the community. There are regular blood donor camps in Toronto area gurdwaras that draw far more than 40 donors. The Sikh community has actually been recognized as one of the most generous donor communities in Canada by Canadian Blood Services. This report makes it seem as though this event was unique and the Sikh community was previously uninvolved. The mention of "violence" at the centre and about "wasting blood" is also problematic. Why bring up a two year old fight? Is the reader to understand that this was an attempt to give back some of the blood that was wasted on the Sikh community? The tendency of our community to run to the media without any strategy or coherent story has backfired once again.
7: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), April 07, 2012, 12:42 PM.
Please do get the media involved ... but do it right and ensure that they get it right.
8: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), April 07, 2012, 5:53 PM.
I remember when I was visiting my cousin at the Children's Hospital in Vancouver about 5 years ago. We passed a clinic which had the sign "Thank You, Sikh-Canadians for Your Contribution". I'm pretty sure the community has been donating blood for quite some time now - and generously.