Members roll up their sleeves

Interview with CFA member John Lloyd:

The eight-week challenge, which began on 1 July, will see police, firefighters, paramedics and emergency response workers and volunteers compete to see which organisation can “bleed” the most for a good cause.

The competition is done on a state and national level with winners announced in September. CFA is the current Victorian challenge champions.

Last week (Friday 13 July), CFA Deputy Chief Officer Alen Slijepcevic went to the Mt Waverley Red Cross Centre to support some of CFA’s dedicated volunteers donating blood and to encourage other CFA members to roll up their sleeves.

Mr Slijepcevic says donating blood is a simple way to give back to the community and he hopes CFA can get enough support to win the national title for such a worthy cause.

“Ultimately, we all work for an emergency service for the same reason – to save lives. Every blood donation helps save a life and one day, you or I might be that person needing blood,” he says.

“For such a small commitment of time, the reward of knowing you’ve helped someone else’s life is priceless.”

Blood Service spokesman Shaun Inguanzo says giving blood takes just an hour of your time.

“Every donation helps to save three lives. With one in three Australians needing blood in their lifetime, there’s every chance that the lives saved could one day be yours or that of a close friend or family member,” he says.

“Yet only one in 30 Australians give blood, and with demand set to double in the next decade, we need to ensure that Australia has enough blood donors going forward.”

As an added incentive, the Blood Service has issued a challenge to the emergency services to reach a combined national tally of at least 2000 donations – saving around 6000 lives in the process.

Members of the community are also encouraged to participate by calling 13 14 95 or visiting www.donateblood.com.au to make an appointment between now and 31 August. Tell the Blood Service which emergency service you’d like your donation to count towards – which will hopefully be CFA.