THE Blood Service is making it easier for Toowoomba donors in Queensland to give blood by opening on weekends.
For the next four months, the centre will open every Saturday. Additional weekday appointments are also being finalised and will be available soon.
Blood Service donor services manager Melanie Thompson said the new wave of appointments would enable more Toowoomba residents to give blood, and lead to a better outcome for Australian patients as the centre focused on boosting vital platelet and plasma donations.
“Cancer patients rely on platelets to prevent internal bleeding during chemotherapy and as a result are the biggest users of blood products in Australia, emphasising the importance of this move,” she said.
“It takes four standard blood donations to make one dose of platelets. Yet it only takes one platelet donation to provide that dose.
“Likewise, plasma can be used to make as many as 18 different lifesaving products. Donors can give nearly three times as much ‘liquid gold’ during a plasma donation compared to a standard blood donation.”
Ms Thompson said the new hours would require all staff to be based at Toowoomba Donor Centre, meaning the Blood Service would postpone future visits by its mobile service to outlying towns until the New Year.
“Unfortunately our mobile service is not capable of collecting plasma and platelet donations, and it requires staff to leave Toowoomba two days per week,” she said.
“We are incredibly grateful for the support those communities offer us at other times of the year, so we’ve notified donors of the change and that we will be in touch with them soon after the Christmas period.”
To roll up your sleeves and give blood at Toowoomba, call 13 14 95 or make an appointment online.
Source: Red Cross Blood Service
