Tag Archives: blood

BLOOD donation clinics will be held at Treacy’s West County Hotel on Tuesday, April 4 and Wednesday, April 5 from 4.45pm until 8pm. Please phone 1800 222 111 for an appointment. Approximately 1000 people in Ireland get blood transfusions every week. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service needs to collect 3,000 units of blood every week to maintain the national blood supply. The issue with blood is that no one knows who will need it, when they will need it, how much they may need, or  what type they require. Transfusions can happen for a variety of reasons – cancer treatment, surgery, car accidents, and childbirth complications to name a few. Urging people to donate the Irish Blood Transfusion Service outlines that one in four of us will need a blood transfusion in our lifetime. 67% of donated blood is used to treat cancer patients and people with blood disorders. 27% of donated blood is used in surgery and emergency situations. …

THE Irish Blood Transfusion Service are urging the people of Clare to give a “priceless gift” and donate blood this Christmas and New Year. Blood donation clinics will be open in Ennis across three days next week with donors called on to make a special effort this festive season. The clinics will be held by appointment only at CBS Primary School, Ennis on Tuesday, December 27, Wednesday, December 28 and Thursday, December 29. To book an appointment contact 1800 222 111. According to IBTS, donations are especially important given on-going challenges with donor availability due to the level of illness in the community, with nearly 20% of all appointments being cancelled weekly. “We really need blood donor’s help, we know it’s been hard and our donors have been amazing in their support.  Donating blood is a selfless act for the person who gives it but is a priceless gift to the person who receives it. For the next three weeks, we …

UL Hospitals Group has signed a three-year service level agreement with Blood Bike Mid West for emergency transport services. Blood Bike Mid West has been transporting laboratory samples, breastmilk, drugs and much more to, from and between acute hospitals in Limerick, Clare and Tipperary since 2013 and currently has a team of over 40 volunteer riders, both male and female, operating in the region. Based in Limerick City, Blood Bike Mid West offers a 24-7 emergency callout service to UL Hospitals Group. They have a dedicated weekend service transporting samples from the Maternity Hospital to the Laboratories in UHL and in addition they have scheduled collections in Ennis, Nenagh & Croom Hospitals every weekend. “We did in the region of 1,000 urgent callouts last year: bloods, urine, placentas, breastmilk, burn dressings, whatever is needed,” said Larry Hunt, Operations, Blood Bike Mid West. Blood Bike Mid West rely entirely on donations and are always on the lookout for new volunteers. These …

A KILLALOE premature “miracle” baby, who suffers from a rare and life-threatening blood condition, has defied all the odds. There is no recorded case of a premature baby surviving with Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in the UK or Ireland, so Shaye Collins has confounded medical experts. Parents Eoin and Veronica Collins said they have been “blown away” by all the support for the treatment of baby Shaye, who remains in Great Ormond Street, London. Shaye was born by emergency C-section at Holles Street, Dublin on September 6, at 30 weeks and six days. He weighed over four pounds but, when he lost excess fluid, he went down to just over three pounds. Three days later, doctors diagnosed Shaye with HLH, in which the body makes too many activated immune cells. Shaye was transferred to Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin and, once stabilised, he was airlifted to Great Ormond Street Hospital on October 11. Eoin said a doctor on the helicopter transporting Shaye to London …

With the national blood supply down to just three days, the Irish Blood Transfusion Board is calling for donors, particularly O pos and O neg donors.The organisation says an extra 1,500 donations over the next three weeks are needed to stabilise the blood supply. “With just three days supply it will be very difficult to guarantee supply to hospitals in the coming weeks unless there is a significant increase in donations.While the summer is always difficult, with donors travelling and their routines disrupted during the school breaks, we still managed to maintain the supply to the hospitals,” said director of operations, Paul McKinney. “However, attendances at clinics over the past number of weeks have been consistently down 6%, while the demand for blood from hospitals has remained constant.This drop in attendances has eroded the blood supply. The IBTS is calling for blood donors to make a special effort to give blood over the coming weeks to restore blood supplies to …

MINISTER of State at the Department of Health Kathleen Lynch has launched the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS ) service to haemochromatosis patients in Munster. BTS has been providing a service for haemochromatosis patients since 2007 when a dedicated service was opened at the Stillorgan clinic in Dublin. This clinic has reached capacity and is treating about 650 patients in total. In 2013 there were 1205 phlebotomies which yielded 967 productive donations. Last August a general access service for patients was established at the IBTS D’Olier Street fixed centre clinic, for the first time providing a service to patients who are not eligible to be blood donors, as well as for those who could donate. “Since opening 148 patients have attended, 131 have been treated. 80% of these patients have decided to become donors and are now on the regular donor programme,” said Andy Kelly, chief executive of the IBTS. As part of the roll out of the national programme, …