Blood Bike West

Xios

http://www.bloodbikewest.ie/

My sister just told me about this group of volunteers that transport emergency blood between hospitals. Thought i'd share.

(apologies if its been posted before)

Pataman

Not to blow our own trumpet but
www.bloodbikeeast.ie

BrokenArrows

Pataman wrote: »

Not to blow our own trumpet but
www.bloodbikeeast.ie

Since when is breast milk needed in an emergency?

rat_race

Pataman wrote: »

Not to blow our own trumpet but
www.bloodbikeeast.ie

It's down?

Pataman

The link is working fine.
Breast milk is not necessarily needed in an emergency, but is an example of items that are carried

Fergus.

I think i will join in here as well
www.bloodbikeleinster.ie

Fergus.

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Since when is breast milk needed in an emergency?

The milk is given to sick or premature babies when breast milk cannot be provided by their mother.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-21653444

paddy147

Xios wrote: »

http://www.bloodbikewest.ie/

My sister just told me about this group of volunteers that transport emergency blood between hospitals. Thought i'd share.

(apologies if its been posted before)

What about North and South.....Id say they feel a tad left out.:pac::pac:

Fergus.

paddy147 wrote: »

What about North and South.....Id say they feel a tad left out.:pac::pac:

Well Paddy you actually have another 4 groups set up now which are

bloodbike midwest
bloodbike cork
bloodbike midlands
bloodbike nthwest
bloodbike leinster

These groups are growing all the time, and hopefully in time the whole country will be up and running just like the Uk model.

paddy147

Fergus. wrote: »

The milk is given to sick or premature babies when breast milk cannot be provided by their mother.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-21653444

Or when the Chinese whip all the milk formula off the supermarket shelves in the UK and send it back to China to sell it at 200% mark up price.


Del Boy Trotter eat your heart out.:pac::D

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/apr/08/baby-milk-powder-rationing-supermarkets

rat_race

Fergus. wrote: »

I think i will join in here as well
www.bloodbikeleinster.ie

One must be over 30 to volunteer. Where was that number pulled out of?

Fergus.

rat_race wrote: »

One must be over 30 to volunteer. Where was that number pulled out of?

That is the age limit set by bloodbike west who started all this rolling, the east is the only group working on a 25yr age group, all the other 6 groups followed suit.

Riders are expected to in a responsible and courteous manner to other road users. Remember, you are representing Blood Bike West.

To become a rider with us you should meet the following criteria:

Aged over 30
Hold a full motorbike licence with no penalty points
Complete our Garda Vetting procedure
You should be located within 30 minutes of Galway City Centre.

rat_race

Fergus. wrote: »

That is the age limit set by bloodbike west who started all this rolling, the east is the only group working on a 25yr age group, all the other 6 groups followed suit.

If bloodbike west jumped off a cliff... etc

Anyway, best of luck with it! (I'm assuming you're part of it...)

Might see you in 2 years when I'm 30!

Fergus.

rat_race wrote: »

If bloodbike west jumped off a cliff... etc

Anyway, best of luck with it! (I'm assuming you're part of it...)

Might see you in 2 years when I'm 30!

I am indeed one of the founding members, i think personally you have to follow a plan and keep to it, its working well for the west, all their riders are RoSPA silver or gold riders and what the HSE wants, so as they say if its not broken dont try and fix it, you will be more than welcome to join up, if not as a rider maybe a fundraiser or controller, the more the merrier.

Thanks
Fergus

Wonda-Boy

In relation to the Blood bikes....and not any particular group.

The bit I don't get is that members are giving their time and effort to these causes for free, and they have to pay to be brought up to RosPA standard. Are you allowed to choose who does your training or are the set instructors on the panel only in it for a few quid?

There are many a very good rider with a full licence and a grade 2 assessment standard with 5 yrs NCB why have a RosPA silver or gold? Why not train the people for "FREE" with a €X amount deposit that you will get back after X amount of yrs service to stop the time wasters.

Fergus.

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

In relation to the Blood bikes....and not any particular group.

The bit I don't get is that members are giving their time and effort to these causes for free, and they have to pay to be brought up to RosPA standard. Are you allowed to choose who does your training or are the set instructors on the panel only in it for a few quid?

There are many a very good rider with a full licence and a grade 2 assessment standard with 5 yrs NCB why have a RosPA silver or gold? Why not train the people for "FREE" with a €X amount deposit that you will get back after X amount of yrs service to stop the time wasters.

You can choose who you want to train you to that standard, RoSPA is the standard the insurance company want, nothing to do with the group, you cant train people for nothing unfortunately, and as volunteer riders you cannot except deposits its not like a job, volunteers are free to come and go at will, if people are interested in riding and doing good work for a worthwhile charity they will get trained and commit to it.

MrPudding

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Since when is breast milk needed in an emergency?

Fergus. wrote: »

The milk is given to sick or premature babies when breast milk cannot be provided by their mother.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-21653444

I am a rider in the UK and we do a lot of breast milk runs. They can most definitely be urgent runs.

MrP

Bikerguy

MrPudding wrote: »

I am a rider in the UK and we do a lot of breast milk runs. They can most definitely be urgent runs.

MrP

fair play to you then. i can imagine, you have priorities anyway.

Hotblack Desiato

MrPudding wrote: »

I am a rider in the UK and we do a lot of breast milk runs. They can most definitely be urgent runs.

I don't doubt that.

Do you bring it bottled, or bring the source on the pillion? :pac:

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

There are many a very good rider with a full licence and a grade 2 assessment standard with 5 yrs NCB why have a RosPA silver or gold?

If you'd done it you'd know. Plenty of people including myself have done it with no requirement for membership of a group or anything else. It is very worthwhile and changes your whole outlook as a rider for the better. Ten years on I'm still learning from it.

MrPudding

ninja900 wrote: »

I don't doubt that.

Do you bring it bottled, or bring the source on the pillion? :pac:

That would be fun. it is actually a really good system. Here's how it works:

1. Mother with excess milk express the milk into bottle supplied by the breast milk bank. They then freeze the milk in their own freezer.
2. Once they have collected a certain amount, they call us.
3. We arrive with an insulated box, or maybe two depending on the donor, that holds around 20 bottles.
4. We take the milk to the milk bank.
5. The milk is defrosted, pasteurised and re-frozen.
6. Urgent call come in for a premature baby.
7. We go to the bank, collect the milk and deliver it to the PICU.

Apparently premature babies are 10 times more likely to survive if given breast milk. The problem being that, as they are premature, there mother may not be producing milk yet.

MrP

serious3

as a father of a pemature baby i can vouch for how good this service is, we had no milk other than frozen for 2 weeks after sophie was born until her mother, erm, produced. these lads are doing a wonderful, selfless service i only wish i lived in the centre of galway so i could offer my services as a rider to help re-pay the huge debt my family have to them

Paul Wiltshire

Fergus. wrote: »

That is the age limit set by bloodbike west who started all this rolling, the east is the only group working on a 25yr age group, all the other 6 groups followed suit.

Riders are expected to in a responsible and courteous manner to other road users. Remember, you are representing Blood Bike West.

To become a rider with us you should meet the following criteria:

Aged over 30
Hold a full motorbike licence with no penalty points
Complete our Garda Vetting procedure
You should be located within 30 minutes of Galway City Centre.

Is it just your riders that are to be Garda vetted???

BaronVon

Forgive my ignorance, but how does this qualify as a charity? The HSE and the Health/Medical industry is a multi billion euro business, why is it deemed necessary for people to volunteer to help them with logistical support?

And surely if the HSE is saving x amount because Blood Bikers are now transporting products for them for free instead of them paying for couriers/taxi's, the HSE could pay the Blood Bikers a smaller portion of whatever they were paying, and this would then negate the need for fundraising to buy bikes/equipment?

It seems like the HSE/State is doing well out of this.......

hobochris

infacteh wrote: »

It seems like the HSE/State is doing well out of this.......

Now you've hit the nail on the head.

The HSE gets a limited budget to run the service, if they have to spend a percentage of that on couriers and taxi's then that is money that cannot be spent on frontline services and more staff.

The point of the blood bike groups is to prevent the Hospitals & HSE from having to spend money on this transport.

Fergus.

Fergus. wrote: »

Well Paddy you actually have another 4 groups set up now which are

BloodBike midwest
BloodBike midlands
BloodBike nthwest
BloodBike leinster


These groups are growing all the time, and hopefully in time the whole country will be up and running just like the Uk model.

New Arrival BloodBike ntheast welcome along guys !! and the groups just keep growing.

Fergus.

infacteh wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance, but how does this qualify as a charity? The HSE and the Health/Medical industry is a multi billion euro business, why is it deemed necessary for people to volunteer to help them with logistical support?

And surely if the HSE is saving x amount because Blood Bikers are now transporting products for them for free instead of them paying for couriers/taxi's, the HSE could pay the Blood Bikers a smaller portion of whatever they were paying, and this would then negate the need for fundraising to buy bikes/equipment?

It seems like the HSE/State is doing well out of this.......

The whole idea of volunteers is to save money its "not" a courier company, if the HSE was to start paying the Blood Bikes for transporting the goods where is the saving, plus then you are operating a service for reward which complicates it even more, there would have to be taxes then paid on the monies received as the money coming from the HSE would need to be accounted for, you would have courier companys trying to compete for the business if they thought there was money to be made from it.