By Mikayla van Loon
Lilydale has opened its doors on the pop-up Australian Red Cross Lifeblood donation centre, aiming to attract new and old donors to help ensure blood stocks are steady across the state.
For Kilsyth couple Rachel and David Potter, donating blood has become somewhat of a competition, each vying for the highest number of donations.
Currently, David is sitting just in front having donated for the 118th time, while Rachel completed her 116th on Tuesday 9 August.
“We started when we were quite young. I started when I was 16 and David would have been 18. But every three months we organise ourselves to have a bit of dinner out afterwards,” Rachel said.
Making a ‘date night’ of their donation every three months, it has become a tradition for the couple who first became aware of Lifeblood at Croydon High School.
“When I started, it was through Croydon High, they said ‘are there any kids that would like to give blood?’ So that’s how we started and it has kept going from there,” David said.
With 8.3 million people needing blood in their lifetime but only three per cent of the population – around half a million people – donating blood, it is crucial to get more donors.
Lifeblood’s State of Donation report released during National Blood Donor Week in June, revealed that although there are three million more people living in Australia than there were 10 years ago, the number of people who donate blood has remained the same.
A new blood donor is needed every four minutes in Australia to help the one in three people who will need blood.
Lifeblood team leader Joe Tanner said the pop-up clinic would like to see at least 70 people through the doors each day over the two weeks it is in Lilydale.
“There’s lots of appointments for the second week. So there’s lots of room for more donors,” he said.
“Most days we do get [to 70 donors] but at the moment being winter, lots of people have colds and flus and even Covid so there’s lots of appointments available.”
Joe said there has been a drop off in regular donors but since the lifting of the UK ‘mad cow’ ban, that prevented people who lived or travelled there for at least six months during the outbreak to donate blood, there has been a number of people from the UK who have already come to donate.
“We’ve had a good response to the ‘mad cow’ deferral being lifted. So we’re getting lots of donors from the UK, which is awesome.”
Over the last few weeks, Lifeblood has seen 21,000 people from across Australia who had been impacted by the ‘mad cow’ ban sign up to donate blood and blood products.
“We are continuing to see a surge of support, with one in six people who attended one of our centres being impacted by the rule change,” Donor Services executive director Cath Stone said.
“It has been truly incredible to see so many generous people ready to roll up their sleeves and start saving lives as soon as the change was announced.”
Although for Rachel and David donating blood is just something they schedule into their calendar every few months, they know not everyone is aware of the need.
“Knowing that people always need blood and blood products, you come to realise that there’s desperate need every day,” Rachel said.
“My sister, although this was a long long time ago, she did need some blood after she gave birth to her first child and we were already donating by then but I think sometimes you can be blissfully ignorant when you’re fit and healthy that so much of it’s needed.
“It’s such an easy thing to do and it’s a required service. We’re pretty lucky in this country with our healthcare.”
Wherever possible, Rachel and David try to encourage others to donate blood, if they are able, also because it is a regular health check of blood pressure, haemoglobin and iron levels.
“We’ve always tried to talk to other people about it as well, again if you’re able to, it’s not for everyone but some people are just unaware that it’s something you can do,” Rachel said.
Lifeblood team member Alison Derry said even though some people may be unable to donate themselves, raising awareness is just as important.
“I think it’s important too that if you can’t donate for any reason, it doesn’t mean you can’t then advocate for your family and friends to donate as well.”
The Lifeblood clinic in Lilydale is open Monday to Thursday 12pm to 8pm and Friday 8am to 3pm on the corner of Hull and Swansea Roads until 19 August.
The pop-up clinic will then be moving to Upwey for two weeks beginning 22 August, with many appointments still available.
Book a donation at www.lifeblood.com.au or on the DonateBlood app or by calling 13 14 95.
