For the past 14 years, Blood Bike West’s motorbikes have criss-crossed the country delivering life-saving blood, breast milk, and urgent medical supplies to where they are needed.
The Galway based charity provides a vital out of hours service for this most precious of cargo, in the evenings and at weekends.
“The HSE provides a fantastic service but after-hours things can get awkward, so if we can help carry that burden, that’s what we are here to do,” says Noel Boyhan, chair of Blood Bike West.
He and his team deliver their life-saving consignments between hospitals and healthcare sites such as hospices, clinics, care homes and laboratories. In some cases, deliveries are made to and from a patient’s own home, freeing them from having to make a journey while unwell.
RM Block
Incredibly, all of this vital work is done on a voluntary basis.
“It’s about trying to give something back, to help the community, and you tend not to want to be paid for that,” explains Boyhan.
Indeed, such is the generosity of its volunteers that very few even claim reimbursement for expenses such as fuel.
“Like all volunteer organisations, we attract a certain type of person,” he says with pride. “It means that, of the money that comes in as donations to us, 100 per cent goes to the running of the organisation.”
Blood Bike West is extremely efficient operationally too, thanks to a rostering app developed by one of its members.
As a result, each volunteer can choose shifts to suit their lifestyle and, typically, their day job.
“During the week it’s from 7pm to 7am, and for those 12 hours you’d be expected to be available to collect, deliver and do whatever is needed,” explains Boyhan.
Blood Bikes, with their distinctive livery, emergency lights and narrow profile, can get through busy traffic to reach their destination quickly and safely. A Blood Bike West van is used for larger packages and in very bad weather conditions.
Each volunteer’s shift starts with safety checks on their bike.
“We have a duty of care to our riders and to make sure we provide the system in the safest and most reliable way possible,” he says. “We also demand that people take an advanced driving course, pretty much the same qualification as the Garda riders have.”
Currently Blood Bike West has a team of 40 volunteer riders, six van drivers and six volunteer controllers.
Each is there to help the organisation deliver on its central mission: to assist positive patient outcomes through the efficient and reliable transport of medical consignments – at no cost to patients.
While it provides this service primarily across the western region, if a longer journey is required, Blood Bike West’s volunteers will not be found wanting.
The organisation was founded by Mike Carty in 2012, after seeing a TV programme about a similar service in the UK.
Together with four friends, he set about creating the first such service in Galway. While it initially took time to introduce hospitals and healthcare providers to the concept, demand quickly grew, and today the distinctive Blood Bike vehicles are a familiar sight across the region.
The service operates between 7pm and 7am during the week, 24 hours a day at weekends, and the aim is to respond to each call out within an hour.
Whether collecting blood samples from a hospice, transporting urgent medical supplies between hospitals, or delivering a forgotten medication to a recently discharged patient, every journey helps healthcare professionals to provide timely care.
Blood Bike West’s volunteers simply collect and deliver sealed packages, allowing medical staff to focus on treating patients.
That includes children undergoing cancer treatment. Rather than having to make weekly trips to Dublin for blood tests, for example, families can now take blood samples at home, and have them collected by Blood Bike volunteers, for delivery to the hospital.
“It saves a family having to drag their child into the hospital to get a blood sample taken and is one of the most satisfying things we do,” says Boyhan.
It’s especially joyous when their young patients recover. In one case a child cancer survivor invited the team to their school to celebrate their recovery.
The charity also plays an important role in supporting the Human Milk Bank, an initiative that collects donated breast milk from mothers and transports it for screening before it reaches neonatal units and paediatric wards caring for premature and critically ill babies throughout Ireland.
Since it was established in 2000, the Human Milk Bank has helped deliver precious donor milk to thousands of vulnerable babies all over the country.
During Covid-19, Blood Bike West expanded its service to deliver medications from pharmacies directly to people’s homes, a service it still provides when needed.
Blood Bike West has received support from the Tesco Ireland Community Fund on more than one occasion, through the familiar blue donation tokens made available at stores in Athenry and Knocknacarra.
Being one of the local choices available in store helps the charity not just to raise money but also grows awareness of the service, which helps with wider fundraising too.
The Tesco funding helps the charity meet essential day to day running costs, including fuel, vehicle maintenance and insurance. Safety gear is also vital for the team, including helmets and air vests, all of which are costly.
Powered by volunteers and backed by its local community, the money from Tesco’s Community Fund is helping Blood Bike West to continue expanding its life-saving service.
“We can use it for our day to day running expenses, which is absolutely fantastic. It costs in the region of €30,000 to keep the five bikes and the van on the road, so the money is an absolute godsend for us,” he says.
“The funding from Tesco helps keep the wheels turning.”
Tesco’s Community Fund is a core part of the retailer’s ‘That’s Every Little Helps’ campaign. Blue Tokens have helped more than 27,000 community projects secure €10 million since it launched in 2014.
For more information on the Tesco Community Fund, or to nominate a cause close to your heart to receive funding, visit tescoireland.ie
