Canadian Blood Services is hoping to find more than 650 donors in the Regina area to help fill open appointments between December 21st and January 4th.

Aaron Barlow with Canadian Blood Services says the need for blood is constant, but it’s even greater during the holiday season.

“Historically, around holidays and long weekends, and other big things going on in our communities, we start to see a little bit of a drop in the appointments that we need to realize to have that healthy inventory,” said Barlow.

Barlow says donations at this time will be essential to collect platelets since they have a short expiry of 7 days that many patients living with cancer or a blood disorder may need for treatment.