By JESSE GRAHAM
HEALESVILLIANS will no longer be able to donate blood in town, with the Red Cross’ mobile blood donation service visiting the town for the final time last week.
People lined up at the Healesville Senior Citizens Hall from 19-21 October for the final blood service in Healesville, following an announcement earlier this month that the service would be winding up.
Donors played musical chairs, going from a waiting area with forms, to talk to blood service staff, before hopping up on medical tables to donate blood and later having a drink and a bite to eat.
Toolangi resident Erica Stryk was one of the long-term visitors donating blood for the last time on Wednesday 21 October.
Ms Stryk said Wednesday’s donation was her 56th blood donation since she had turned 18.
When asked why she donated blood, she put it simply – “I’ve got it, and it’s no skin from my knees.”
“And it’s useful,” she added.
“It’s not a big deal – it’s a prick in the arm, and then you just lay there.”
She said she had known someone who had to receive a blood transfusion, though she was already a donor at the time.
“It helps to know that it’s made good use of,” she said.
State Donor Services manager Maureen Bower said over the last 13 years, enough blood had been donated through the Healesville service to be used for 27,000 patients
But a blood service spokesperson said the mobile service, which had visited the town quarterly for 13 years, would no longer visit Healesville due to less demand for red blood cell donations.
“Currently, Australia’s demand for plasma is at an all-time high, while demand for red cells – derived from whole blood donations – continues to fall,” the spokesperson said in a written statement.
“Medicinal science keeps finding new ways to use plasma products, leading to this increase in demand, and we need to adjust what we collect to meet this growing need.”
“We hope our donors will understand this change is a reflection of shifting demand, as hospitals change the way they use blood products to treat patients.”
The mobile service will still visit Lilydale quarterly, while donations can be made by appointment at the Ringwood Donor Centre.
Each blood donation is said to save three lives.
To make an appointment to donate blood, or to check to see if you are eligible, visit www.donateblood.com.au or call 13 14 95.
