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Red Cross warns of Easter blood shortage in SA

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service has put out an urgent call for blood donors over the Easter long-weekend to avoid a looming shortage.

Mar 24, 2016, updated Mar 24, 2016
Photo: AAP/Dan Himbrechts

Photo: AAP/Dan Himbrechts

The service says demand for blood increases in the lead-up to Easter and immediately following the long weekend, with potential recipients including cancer patients, road trauma victims, women giving birth, and people with blood disorders.

It warns that the South Australian supply is not guaranteed unless more people make a donation on Easter Monday, with 45 appointments needing to be filled at the three metropolitan centres in the city, Marion and Pelican Point.

“The majority of those appointment need to be filled at the Regent Arcade donor centre, in the city, which will have its doors open on Easter Monday,” said Blood Service spokeswoman Rebecca DiGirolamo.

“Among the donations needed are at least six platelet donations to make sure the vital blood clotting agent is available for the treatment of cancer patients.

“Platelets are the shortest-lived blood product at just five days, meaning they can’t be stockpiled, so long-weekends often pose a threat to continuity of supply as donors drop away due to holidays.”

Stocks of O Negative – the “universal” blood type used in emergency situations – are also under threat from the long-weekend.

Adelaide father Michael Barlow, whose life was saved by multiple blood transfusions, has made an appointment to give blood on Saturday.

In 2012, Barlow was rushed to Lyell McEwin Hospital after his wife Jaime found him unresponsive. He was diagnosed with a bacterial infection so severe that Jamie and his six-year-old daughter Zoe were told to say their goodbyes.

However, his life was saved after multiple blood transfusions given through the more than a month he spent in intensive care.

Michael Barlow. Supplied image

Michael Barlow. Supplied image

The experience led him to become a regular blood donor, and he will make his ninth donation on Saturday.

“I felt I just had to donate because people had given up one hour of their time to save my life, so it’s the least I can do,” he says. “I doubt I can ever repay the amount of blood I have used but I’ll keep donating for as long as I can.”

To give blood on Easter Monday, call 13 14 95 or visit www.donateblood.com.au

 

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