Today, officers from Brisbane City Station, Sergeant Amy Drummond and Acting Sergeant Madison Hughes, rolled up their sleeves to donate blood as part of the Lifeblood ‘Bleed4Blue’ campaign.
This campaign was a blood drive initially created by the New South Wales policing community, as well as the general public, to give back following the stabbing of Detective Sergeant John Breda in February 2018.
Detective Sergeant Breda needed more than 44 bags of blood to save his life, and is a strong advocate for blood donation, encouraging others to donate to make sure there is always enough blood when it is needed most.
Yesterday, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller once again called out to all policing services and family and friends across the country and challenged them to donate.
Sergeant Drummond and Acting Sergeant Hughes stepped up the challenge today and each donated blood for the worthy cause. In fact, it was Acting Sergeant Hughes’ first donation.
Commissioner Carroll said she knew just how important it was for Queenslanders to be donating blood at this time of year.
“Given the COVID-19 pandemic, blood donations are as essential as ever,” Commissioner Carroll said.
“I give my sincere thanks to everyone who regularly donates.
“I encourage my Queensland Police Service colleagues and the community to donate blood during this campaign and support this important cause.”
Liam Richardson from Lifeblood said the Bleed4Blue campaign, as well as being from a very worthy cause, comes at a challenging time for Lifeblood.
“With lots of our regular donors going on holidays over Christmas, especially now that we can move around a bit, we really need to call on people who may not have donated before, or not donated regularly, to come in and make a donation,” Mr Richardson said.
“We need to collect 31,000 donations every week, and this can be challenging over the Christmas period, so this challenge comes at a great time for us.
“Plus, the Queensland Lifeblood Team really want to beat New South Wales this year, so if you are a serving officer, or a friend or family, or even a member of the public wanting to support the Queensland Police Service, please make an appointment and join the Queensland Police Service Lifeblood Team so your donation counts toward the tally.”
To join, visit https://www.donateblood.com.au/lifeblood-teams.
How do I get involved?
- Register. If you don’t already have one, register an account. You don’t need to be a blood donor to register.
- Join your team to have your donations added to your team’s tally. You can do this by logging in and going to My details > Manage Details > Update my Preferences.
- Make an appointment to give blood between 1 December and 28 February.
Did you know?
- Some donated blood products have a shelf-life of five-days, making it a serious challenge to meet medical demand for accidents and other trauma during the Christmas and New Year period.
- You can help relieve the pressure – and save someone in need – by donating anytime, but especially during the upcoming holiday period.
- Donor centres are open every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
For more information on the campaign, visit https://www.donateblood.com.au/bleed-4-blue.
