Couple spearheads campaign for mobile blood bank after personal life-saving transfusion

Residents have rallied behind a couple's ambitious campaign to bring a mobile blood donation service to the Whitsundays.

Airlie Beach couple Michael and Val Kimpton are spearheading a campaign to bring a Lifeblood mobile blood donor centre to the Whitsundays, saying the lack of local donation facilities has left residents with few options to give blood.

An Airlie Beach couple are spearheading a campaign to bring a mobile blood donor centre to the Whitsundays, saying the lack of local donation facilities has left residents with few options to give blood.

Michael and Val Kimpton said when they came across a gap in services in the region they decided to try to do something about it.

The retired couple, originally from Victoria, have taken their idea to Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls at a recent community cabinet and have even set up an online petition which has gathered more than 90 signatures in just a few days.

“When we went down to see the health minister in Mackay with the community cabinet, he was all for us to promote or investigate it up here,” Mr Kimpton said.

“He said he would do a little bit of research himself.”

Mrs Kimpton said the response from locals had been overwhelmingly positive.

“I play a lot of tennis, I work at the op shop and you talk to everybody and they say, ‘I wish I had blood back up here. I’d give blood, I’d give blood,’” she said.

“I haven’t had a negative response.”

They’ve also pledged to personally contribute $30,000 if that’s what it takes to help get the project off the ground.

“Even if that’s only going to put some wheels on the thing,” Mr Kimpton said.

“Life’s been good to us so we figured let’s give back a little bit.”

The closest Lifeblood centres for most people in the Whitsundays are Mackay and Townsville. Photo: Contributed

Mr Kimpton said a scary personal experience was in the back of his mind motivating him to help others.

“I received a blood transfusion in the 1970s, which sort of saved my life,” he said.

“I had a professional job as an accountant, I was just commuting to work in the city because I couldn’t get a car park and just fell off my bike one night; six months later I got out of hospital.”

The couple, who moved to Airlie Beach ten years ago, said they had donated blood regularly before relocating.

“In Melbourne, we gave blood four times a year for 20, 30 odd years,” Mrs Kimpton said.

Living in the Whitsundays made it much more challenging having to book an appointment and travel hours to Mackay or Townsville.

“We understand the logistics of having staff, having the beds, storing the blood, circulating the blood,” she said.

“We know that to set up a full-time blood bank here would be logistically not viable but a mobile blood bank to send up.

“All these people on the Whitsunday Chat have said get the blood bank travelling around from Proserpine one day, Airlie Beach next, Bowen.”

They said they often saw donation facilities calling for more people to donate but there was a huge group of people in regional Queensland that were missing out on the opportunity.

Mr Nicholls confirmed the desire for the service was raised during the recent Community Cabinet and said donations of blood and plasma through Lifeblood were crucial to supporting patients across Queensland, while Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Ry Collins said the campaign was a great example of community spirit in action.

“When people like Michael and Val bring this kind of heart and determination to an issue, it really captures what the Whitsundays is all about,” Cr Collins said.

Michael and Val Kimpton believe there are a lot of people in the region who would donate if they had the chance. Photo: Contributed

“Ours is a community full of people who just need the opportunity to help others so a local mobile blood bank would make that possible.”

A Lifeblood spokeswoman said they were incredibly grateful for the generosity of Australians who wished to donate blood and blood products and understood the frustration for people who wanted to donate but were unable to due to location.

They said new mobile locations were based on a number of factors, including proximity to processing centres, population size and availability of qualified staff.

They confirmed the mobile location calendar was set 12 to 18 months in advance and at this stage no visits to the Whitsundays had been planned.

It was also noted that the supply of blood to all areas of Australia was not impacted by the location of the donor centres, ensuring everyone, including those living in regional areas, had access to a safe and constant supply of blood.

They said community members visiting any areas with a centre on their travels would be welcome to donate and those who could not get to a facility could still play a part by communicating the importance of blood donation on social media, signing up to be an organ donor, or even volunteering for the Australian Red Cross.

Mr Kimpton said they hoped the petition would continue to gain momentum as more locals learned about it so they could show Lifeblood this was a service the community would get behind.

“I think a good aim for us is to keep working on that petition, the more signatures we get, the more support we can show that’s behind us the better,” he said.