Busselton to benefit from extended Australian Red Cross Lifeblood pop-up centre trial for blood donations

Busselton blood donors are set to benefit from a trial which will enable them to donate closer to home. The city is one of three WA locations chosen for the expansion of Australian Red Cross Lifeblood’s pop-up centre trial, alongside the Perth suburbs of Armadale and Cockburn. Pop-up collections are set to start before the end of the year, with executive donor experience director Cath Stone saying the organisation is thrilled to be planning visits to the city in coming months. “For the past six months, we’ve had a dedicated team conducting extensive research and analysis to identify suitable locations for the pop-up and working through operational logistics,” she said. “We know these three communities will be very excited to be able to donate closer to home and we’re confident there are enough potential donors in these locations to make the pop-up visits successful. “We’re particularly excited to be adding another regional town in Busselton to the list, as one of the benefits of a pop-up donor centre is it enables us to provide more donation options for regional communities.” The pop-up donor centres will operate from a local venue, such as a community hall, and are set up and packed down for each visit. Locations are based on several factors, including proximity to processing centres, population size, estimated donation rate, suitable venue availability, access to regional communities and availability of qualified staff. Ms Stone said Lifeblood was still finalising more sites for the pop-up trial. “We’re currently working through venue logistics for a number of other sites, as well as licensing regulations for all our sites,” she said. “We hope to be able to share the locations of the remaining sites, as well as start dates for the pop-up, very soon. We’re confident the pop-up will be up and running this spring.” All blood donations made at the WA pop-up centres will be sent to Perth for testing and processing before being distributed to hospitals around the country for those in need.