Australian Red Cross Blood Service

Help others in need, time may come you need it too.

If you want to give back a little then this is one of the easiest ways to do it. One of every three people will need donated blood at some stage in their lives. If you have a couple of hours & don’t mind needles then you should be coming here. Free snack and drinks after you’ve donated. Only reason I’ve dropped a star is because at times they can be very busy and the wait time can be a little long. Must pre book your donation

If you were in an accident and needed blood to survive you would take it wouldn’t you? Yes you would, so don’t be douche and go give up 15 minutes of your time to help somebody else out. Karma will thank you. Unless you’re a Brit circa the Mad Cow years of course… your blood is no good I’m afraid.
Staff at the Bourke St centre are super duper lovely and if you’re a nervous nelly sort when it comes to needles and the like, they will put you at ease.
I made an appointment on a Saturday morning so it wasn’t overly busy and they got me started earlier than my allocated time which was a bonus.
And yes — the café is worth your 15 minutes even if helping out your fellows humans isn’t usually your thing. It wasn’t staffed the day I went but I could help myself to drinks (water, chocolate milk, fruit juice etc) and food (pretzels, fruit cake, biscuits). I did spy a pie warmer and coffee machine so might have to come back when it’s staffed to try those out!

As the busiest donor centre in Australia, the staff at Bourke Street Blood Donor Service are friendly, efficient and good at handling those pointy things.
It takes about an hour to donate blood, which is a small amount of time to make a big difference. For me, about 5 – 10 mins of this time is the actual blood donation part, the rest is filling out paperwork, watching daytime tv and eating fruitcake.
After your donation refuel in the kitchen where friendly staff will sort you out with refreshments. There is a good selection of drinks and snacks, and they will make you a cup of tea or coffee, get you a fruit juice or even make you a milkshake.

One of the most personal things you can donate is your blood. You give this part of yourself to someone or someones you may never meet but it may save their life. After doing this deed every 6 weeks you feel good about yourself and the difference your making in the world. No one can take the way from you!

Feel good because you give to people in need and get a milkshake & sausage rolls. Double win.
Book an appointment to donate, because you never know when you will need the services of the Red Cross.
Pre-​emptive karma.

The Red Cross needs you! You’re blood, and plasma for some of you, that is. Especially around the silly season, where there’s more partying and more drinking, as a result a higher than average need for blood transfusions from all the accidents that happen.
The Red Cross operates six days a week, Monday through to Saturday, and even open on a public holiday if it falls during those days. You are advised to call first to make an appointment, as there are plenty of seats but it does take about an hour all up.
The process starts by you filling a form declaring illness or treatment conditions, travel as well as your general health. Then you are interviewed to asses your suitability and you will be told if you aren’t and why. At this point, they will also prick your finger for a blood test. Hopefully, you are fully aware of your health, as they will screen all blood that comes in for HIV, Hepatitis as well as other infectious diseases as you will be informed at a later date of the outcome. There is a section of questions regarding sexual practices that some might find a little intrusive but lets be honest if you were on the receiving end, you’d want to be able to trust that the blood is pretty much infection free.
Once you’ve passed this interview stage (don’t worry, they aren’t there to judge you), you are ushered to your very comfy recliner seat, which goes up and down. Then it all happens. The nurses are there to answer any questions and also keep an eye over you incase you start to feel faint during the process. On average you’d fill a bag of 470ml. Touch the bag, when you are done, it feels incredibly warm!
The nurses will then ask if you are feeling okay, and after that head over to the break out area, there’s a coffee machine, a milkshake machine, muffins, chocolates, lollies, biscuits etc so help yourself as your body now needs some nourishment. You aren’t shoed off, in fact they encourage you to linger for another 15 – 20 minutes to make sure you are well enough to be on your way. It isn’t uncommon to feel a bit light headed or actually faint after donating blood or plasma, just make sure you’ve eaten a substantial meal in the last three hours and had plenty of water.
I know those recliner chairs are pretty ugly but they are comfy. I’ll be back!

Pretty much the only thing I’ve ever received an A+ for is my blood, and it’s only right to share our gifts with the world, so that’s why I drop in here every now and then to give a little.
All you have to do is call the Red Cross blood donation hotline (13 14 95) and make an appointment. On the day of your donation you’ll need to drink bucket loads of water (stay away from coffee, tea and booze because they’re diuretics) and eat well.
When you arrive at the centre, the receptionist will ask you to fill in a long form where you’ll have to disclose some quite personal information about your lifestyle, but as long as you don’t shoot up junkie drugs whilst having unprotected sex in an orgy situation, you should pass the test.
Next you get taken to a little room with one of the nurses and they do a finger-​prick blood test just to make sure your blood is suitable, and then there’s a brief run through of the form you filled in.
From there, it’s on to the bloody donation. The phlebotomist puts you in what looks like a dentist’s chair where you then lean back and let them stick a needle in one of your arms and try to relax. Occasionally they might ask you to squeeze on a rubber ball to encourage blood flow.
Everyone is very, very nice to you because they appreciate the good thing that you’re doing, and you get very well taken care of. Someone is always on hand in case you start to feel nervous or unwell, and the process of blood giving can be very fast (less than 15 minutes) if you’ve drunk a lot of water in the preceding hours.
Afterwards you get to stuff your face with free tea, juice and biscuits in the little canteen area before the staff ask you for the umpteenth time if you feel ok and then you get to leave and take the rest of the day really easy and enjoy the feeling that you’ve made a life-​saving contribution.