The Red Cross mobile donor centre is making its final stop in Bega for this year, and nurses are busy keeping up with a full schedule of donations.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Some donors travelled up to an hour to give blood on Tuesday, as the mobile unit parked on Carp St is the only donation point for the whole Bega Valley Shire.
“There are quite a few people that travel a good while to get here,” Red Cross nurse Carole Banfield said.
“It shows a real dedication, which is really great for us to see.”
Ms Banfield said they may collect more blood if they travelled along the whole coastline, but the mobile service isn’t quite as mobile as you may expect.
“We spend quite a bit of time making sure we’re on a level ground, and we need to set up a lot of equipment and accommodate our staff,” she said.
“We also need the blood to be up picked up on a daily basis, so logistically it makes sense for us to stay in one spot.”
Jan Shevlin drove from Narooma on Tuesday to visit the Red Cross mobile donor unit. She has given blood 48 times.
“I wouldn’t say it gets easier over time, because it’s not hard to begin with,” she said.
“It’s just a really good thing to do, and you never know when you may need blood yourself.”
Waiting in line was 17-year-old Cooper Ritchie, who was donating for the first time.
Cooper decided to donate after he saw a Facebook post calling for people who weren’t affected by the flu.
“I’m just about the only person I know who didn’t get sick this winter, so I thought I’d better make an appointment,” he said.
Cooper is a firefighter with Pambula’s Rural Fire Service and sees giving blood as another way he can give back to his community.
He travelled from Pambula to give blood on Tuesday. He said it would be great to see permanent blood donation facilities brought in to local hospitals.
Ms Banfield said there was always a strong donor turn out in Bega, which ensures the service will be able to continue into the future.
They expect about 220 donations over the four day period.
“We only have two free appointments in our schedule for the rest of our visit,” she said.
“It makes it hard to accept walk in donors, but these regulars ensure we can keep bringing our service in Bega.”
If a mobile unit experiences a drop in donor rates, the service can be cancelled.
Braidwood lost its mobile service last month after a downward trend in donations.
“This unit services Cooma, Yass, Queanbeyan and Bega, but Braidwood just isn’t viable anymore,” Ms Banfield said.
Yetty Burgess is a volunteer for the Red Cross and a retired Bega Hospital nurse.
She was part of the driving force to bring the mobile donor unit to Bega, which has been visiting for seven years now.
“We used to have a blood donation service at the hospital about 18 years ago, and people were really upset to see it go,” she said.
“That’s why we always donors turn up in such big numbers, it has always been a cause this community gets behind.”
The mobile donor unit comes to Bega three times a year, in January, May and August.