Earlier this month, Lifeblood put out an urgent call for blood donors, prompting the Penrith Donor Centre to have one of their highest weeks of donations of all-time.
But, with rocky times ahead, it’s clear there’s no bad time to donate – perhaps even on your lunch break.
According to Lifeblood’s Maarit Malinen, the urgent call out was prompted primarily by illness not allowing for their regular donor base – made up of over half a million people – to come in, meaning they haven’t been able to meet the current demand for blood, which is at a record high.
“Across this winter season, we have found that there’s been over a thousand chairs across the country empty every week,” she said.
“This has come because we’ve had this really bad cold and flu season, and our regular donors haven’t been able to make it in.”
Thankfully, Malinen said the call was well and truly heard, with donors flying into the centre.
“We have had a record response, and we have hit record numbers last week [in Penrith],” she said.
“It’s a really nice feeling to have the public listen to our call in these appeals.”
Though the busy winter period is now coming to an end, Malinen said that the need for blood is always present, particularly heading towards summer.
“At Christmas time, everybody will be on holidays, all of our regular donors go away, people are busy with their families, and it’s also a time when people are doing things out of the ordinary, in terms of road trauma, car accidents, so you’ve got a double whammy, similar to wintertime,” she said.
It’s for this reason that they’re promoting donation to as many people as possible – including people on their lunch break.
To put this to the test, myself and two other Western Sydney Publishing Group journalists headed down to the Penrith Donor Centre this week to see just how quickly you can get it done.
Once you arrive at your appointment time, donors are asked to fill out a questionnaire with lifestyle and health-related enquiries. You’re then taken into an interview room for follow up questions and an iron test, before getting into the chair.
“It’s all to make sure it’s safe for you, and to make sure it’s safe for our recipients,” Malinen said.
Once you’re through, the process is easy and pain free, and could definitely be done in less than an hour.
However, whilst our other journalists, Ellie Busby, who donated for the first time, and Emily Chate, who donated for the ninth time, were able to donate the full amount successfully, I wasn’t so lucky, due to a slow flow.
Though I definitely felt like a bit of a fraud in my ‘first time donor’ sticker, Malinen said it’s not uncommon, and the blood I did donate will still go towards helping someone somewhere.
“For some people, particularly young women, our bodies change a lot. The type of activities you engage in, like exercise, can also change your blood plasma volume, and so you have more blood volume rolling around in your body,” she said.
“For some people, their body’s not built for it… but sometimes it’s just the way your arm was positioned that day, or maybe it was the angle of the needle. We have some really regular donors who have 10 flawless donations, and then they have one that just doesn’t work.”
Plus, I still got to enjoy the free snacks and a delicious milkshake at the end. It’s for this reason that Malinen recommends for anyone eligible to give it a go.
“If you’re aged between 18 and 75, and you’re feeling fit and healthy, it only takes an hour of your time,” Malinen said.
“We have great snacks available, our nurses are very friendly, the donor centre is warm, so it’s a perfect way to get those warm and fuzzies on the inside and the outside, and support your community.”
For more information, visit http://www.lifeblood.com.au or call 13 14 95.
Cassidy Pearce
Cassidy Pearce is a news and entertainment journalist with The Western Weekender. A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, she has previously worked with Good Morning Macarthur and joined the Weekender in 2022.