Bannockburn man Daryl Bartlett visited Lifeblood Geelong Donor Centre this week to donate for the 400th time.
Mr Bartlett, 76, has been donating blood and, more recently, plasma since he was 18 years old.
“My father was a member of the Geelong Workers Club and they had a drive, trying to attract people to the blood bank, so I said, oh yeah, I’ll go,” Mr Bartlett said.
“In those days they only did whole blood, so you could only go every three months.
“They brought the plasma donations to Geelong 15 or so years ago and they asked me to switch to that. Since then, I’ve been going every four weeks.”
Lifeblood spokesperson Emily Granland said while not everybody could make 400 donations, every blood and plasma donation made a meaningful difference to patients in need.
“Plasma is a powerful part of blood that can be used in 18 different life-giving ways including creating medicines and in treatments for medical conditions like liver disease and immune deficiencies,” she said.
“More than 33,000 donations are needed each week in Australia to meet patient demand.”
Mr Bartlett had encouraging words for people who were considering donating but had not quite got to the Donor Centre yet.
“If you’re fit and healthy I would say try to fit it in,” he said.
“It’s a couple of hours out of your time. The girls and guys that work there are lovely, so it’s a pleasure to go. They look after you up there and you feel like you’re helping someone.”
At the moment, Lifeblood needs more people with O positive and O negative to donate. Book an appointment on 13 14 95, at lifeblood.com.au or on the DonateBlood app.
