By Luke Voogt
City Hall’s Rima Taylor is “petrified of needles”, but that hasn’t stopped her from donating blood in honour of her late mother.
“My mother passed away from bone marrow cancer (in 2010) and one of the things that made her comfortable was pints and pints of blood,” Rima said.
“She needed so much of it.”
The mother of two faced her fears as part of a City of Greater Geelong team that won the Red Cross’s 2017 Victorian Councils Challenge.
Barwon Health completed a double win for Geelong, taking out this year’s health services prize after being ’first past the post’ with blood donations.
Employees from both organisations contributed 353 blood donations, which would save 1059 lives according to the Red Cross.
Barwon Health chief executive officer Professor Ruth Salom was proud of her team.
“Because of the industry we work in, we are very aware how important the donations from our staff will be for patients facing their own personal challenges,” she said.
City Hall’s Shane Hughan helped co-ordinate his colleagues’ efforts and was delighted with the win.
“It was fantastic to see staff from many different departments all come together for such a worthy cause – and, of course, a win.”
Donors from the two organisations received a heartfelt thankyou from Billy the Blood Drop when they visited the Geelong Donor Centre on Tuesday.
Geelong Donor Centre manager Jenny Taumoefolau congratulated the organisations.
“We’re delighted by the level of support from their employees and it has been a pleasure to welcome these wonderful donor groups into our centre,” she said.
“Unfortunately, the need for donations continues well beyond these Challenges.
“I encourage everybody to consider making blood donations part of their routine. Every donation will help save three lives.”
