Lifeblood: calls for blood donations after distribution was interrupted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred
After transportation routes were interrupted from Brisbane’s blood donation processing centre, Toowoomba was left with only one bag of blood platelets.
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Lifeblood has put out an urgent call for donations to replenish our blood bank supply after transport to Toowoomba was temporarily cut off by flooded roads in the aftermath of Cyclone Alfred.
Blood supply transports were unable to reach Toowoomba by road for multiple days, leaving the city’s supply of blood platelets down to one bag by Monday, March 10, with fears for patients who require the lifesaving product.
Platelets are essential to the treatment of critical bleeding patients, for both surgical or medical bleeds, and cancer patients who are dependent on platelet transfusions.
Toowoomba group laboratory manager for pathology Queensland Neil Dawson said in anticipation of the cyclone they tried to prepare extra stock but with the delay in Cyclone Alfred making landfall, they had already gone through the emergency supply by the time it hit Toowoomba.
“We weren’t able to get easy resupply from Brisbane and that became quite critical so we started looking at alternative ways of accessing platelets,” he said.
Toowoomba-based organisation LifeFlight was able to transport blood donation supply to some of the 20 donor centres that closed across Queensland during the cyclone.
The products were transported via the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and arrived at Wellcamp Airport on Monday.
With operations impacted for a few days last week, the production pipeline is still being impacted and blood banks are still in need of donations.
“When the processing centre was not available that had a major impact, and the centre had to be resupplied via Sydney or interstate,” Mr Dawson said.
“There is still a need for people to donate blood if they’re able to.”
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