Dubbo needs 100 more donors, Red Cross short on blood products,

The holiday season from mid-December to end of January sees a dip in donation of blood products, according to Brian Bruce, community relations officer at Lifeblood.

"It's quite a challenging time for blood supplies because our regular donors go on holiday, we need new people to come and donate during that time. It's a balancing act," he said.

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In particular, blood donors with O and A blood groups (O+, O-, A+, A-) are being urged to come forward. The Dubbo centre is also short of plasma from people of all blood groups.

Plasma donors can donate every two weeks, while blood donors can donate about every 12 weeks.

Whole blood largely helps people with cancer and blood disorders, while trauma treatments for accident victims make up about 2% of donated blood use.

Plasma, on the other hand, helps boost a patient's blood volume which can prevent shock and helps with blood clotting. It's a life-saving product for burn victims and people with immune deficiencies, severe liver disease and bleeding disorders.

"Every 18 seconds across January someone in Australia needs donated blood. One in three people will need a blood product in their lives, but only one in 30 Australians donate," Mr Bruce said.

Become a donor by calling 13 14 95 , visiting lifeblood.com.au or download the Donate Blood app.

Mr Bruce encouraged people to bring a friend and donate together to help alleviate the shortage this month.

"It's an hour of your time, you are going to save people's lives," he said.

"It's a feel-good thing as well. It's a really nice and easy thing to do as long as you're fit and healthy with no coughs, colds, or flus.

"You'll get a milkshake, party pie, bag of chips, cookie at the end of it."

December, however, was a "brilliant" month for Dubbo with 519 people donating blood products. This added to the record-breaking 528,000 blood donations Lifeblood received in 2022, the most blood donations recorded in the last nine years.

Mr Bruce said this was because their research found that half of Australians now had a greater sense of wanting to give back and help others, compared to before the Covid pandemic.

"It is nice to see," he said.

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