St. Pats GAA bring back blood clinic

FOLLOWING on from a hugely successful blood donation clinic in June, St. Patrick’s GAA Club in partnership with the local Skreen/ Dromard Community Centre have arranged a second clinic, to take place in December.

Returning to the Centre again on Tuesday December 4th between 5pm – 8:30pm, organises are asking all members of the community and beyond to call to the centre on the day. If they can hit in excess of 130 donations on the day it will go a long way in helping to secure this as a regular clinic possibly 2 to 3 times a year.

On June 28th last the Irish Blood Transfusion Board held a first ever Blood Donation Clinic in Skreen Dromard Community Centre, the Clinic was organised by St Patrick’s as a team bonding exercise and invited the whole community to come and donate on the day. The club were delighted with the turnout with in excess of 90 donors calling to the clinic to donate blood. Anthony Joyce (Blood Donation Clinic coordinator) and Carmel Mc Namara (area organiser Tuam) both were instrumental in bringing the Clinic to the centre, Ann Higgins nurse manager on the day praised the whole event from the facilities in Skreen / Dromard to the turn out on the day for this first time clinic.

The Community Centre is located on the main Sligo Ballina Road approx. 6 miles out from Ballisadare. Did you know that 1 blood donation can save 3 lives, one in four people will need a blood transfusion at some point in their lives, over 1,000 Irish people receive transfusions every week in Ireland.

Approximately 70,000 patients will have transfusions in Irish hospitals this year, a typical unit of blood lasts for just 35 days, but in some cases such as blood used for very young children; this blood must be used within 5 days of its collection, only 3% of the eligible Irish population give blood and they are providing blood for a population of over 4 million.

Based on all these stats over 3000 blood donors are needed each week in Ireland to ensure stock levels don’t drop to a critically low level. Blood is a vital key ingredient that every man woman and child needs to survive, every day hospitals up and down the country are calling on blood bank to get blood that is urgently needed for patients.