Baseball Victoria has signed up to Australian Red Cross Lifeblood’s Teams program, joining Essendon, Werribee and Heathmont Baseball clubs to save lives through blood donation. Blood and plasma donations save thousands of lives every year and make a huge difference to those who desperately need it to survive.
Lifeblood recently celebrated National Blood Donor Week (14-20 June) thanking around half a million donors for their 1.5 million blood donations given last year.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic Lifeblood said they were extremely grateful to Australians who have rolled up their sleeves in record numbers over the last few months to ensure patients across the country have access to the blood and blood products they require. While 2020 has turned out to be very different from previous years, the need for blood remains every day of the year.
Blood donation was deemed an essential service by the Australian Government during strict stay at home measures earlier this year, with donors continuing to roll up their sleeves and save lives. This month, donors can get involved in a meaningful cause while practicing safe social distancing, which remains important as the COVID-19 situation evolves.
“Australia still needs 29,000 donations every week, and while we can’t play baseball quite yet, we are able to return to training and come together as a community to donate blood,” Baseball Victoria CEO Kristie Middleton said. “Lifeblood has strict safety measures in place, and we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 restrictions to maintain a safe and healthy baseball community.”
Essendon Baseball Club and Werribee Baseball Club are both signed up to Lifeblood Teams. Essendon registered 108 donations in 2019, saving 324 lives, with 54 donations and 168 lives saved so far in 2020. Werribee had 14 donations registered in 2019 to save 42 lives, while this year to date there has been 10 donations to save 30 lives. Heathmont Baseball Club has registered eight donations, saving 24 lives.
Please join Baseball Victoria in giving back by donating blood. Click HERE to sign up today and join the Baseball Victoria Lifeblood Team as we look to reach 100 donations this year.
Please click HERE to learn more about Lifeblood’s extra safety measures to ensure the health and wellbeing of donors.