Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Jasper鈥檚 deputy fire chief is encouraging others to donate blood in honour of her late father.
A firefighter since 1986 in Picture Butte, 17 of those years as fire chief, Sam West was dedicated to helping others.
He died on April 6 last year after a 16-year battle with chronic pancreatitis. In his last years, a tumor led to internal bleeding and West received many blood transfusions, especially in his last few days.
Amy West, Sam鈥檚 daughter and deputy fire chief here in Jasper, said: "A lot of people associate blood with traumatic injuries but that experience with my dad showed us there is a wide variety of other needs for blood.
"I encourage people to give what they can, when they can. It's in you to give - it's not scary."
After Sam died, it didn't take long for the family, who collectively have dedicated their time to helping others as he did, to decide how to honour him. Amy and her siblings all followed in their dad's footsteps, in emergency services, including her late sister, an RCMP officer who died in the line of duty in 2010.
And just a few days after their dad died, Amy and her siblings went to a blood donor clinic in Lethbridge.
There, they found that some of the Wests have a rare blood type and are 'universal donors', meaning their blood can be used for anyone, regardless of their blood type.
"Our thought behind it was we just wanted to donate blood,鈥� said West.
鈥淲hen we were there, a woman at the clinic said, 'Hey, you're all related.' We told her the story of why we were there."
The woman gave the West family pamphlets and other information to help them to their next step: Forming Sam's Heroes Life-Saving Team and joining the Canadian Blood Services Partners for Life, a nationwide program which connects donors, recipients, partners, employees and volunteers.
Now, the team has expanded with family and friends registered with Sam's Heroes Life-Saving Team all across the country.
Donating blood may be daunting to some, but West said at blood donor clinics they take good care of you, monitor you, and have extra precautions in place - more so with COVID-19.
Last week (June 8-14) was National Blood Donor Week and World Blood Donor Day was Sunday, June 14.
To find out how to donate, visit to Canadian Blood Services website at or call 1-888-236-6283.
