National Blood Donor Weeks salutes region's lifesavers

Rhys Owens

West Moreton Health is home to hundreds of certified lifesavers – and Rhys Owens is one of them.

The 30-year-old normally supports patient care in his role as Hotel Services Supervisor, but every two weeks he makes an appointment to change someone’s life.

Mr Owens is among the volunteer blood donors being celebrated this week for National Blood Donor Week, which runs 14 – 20 June.

He has rolled up his sleeve on 194 occasions, which means his blood has helped save up to 582 lives.

Blood donation is a proud family tradition started by Mr Owens’ mum, the late Hilary Owens, who also worked at Ipswich Hospital as a nurse in the rehabilitation and palliative care wards.

“My mum donated blood for about 40 years. She started when she was 16, the same age as me, and she was the one that got me and my brothers and my dad into donating blood too,’’ Mr Owens said.

“She was a nurse and wanted to do right by her community.

“Mum is no longer with us so now we donate blood to honour her memory.’’

The father-of-two said he hoped his children would one day become third-generation donors.

“Donating blood is a family thing, and something we take pride in doing together so it would be important to me for my children to continue that tradition.’’

Mr Owens’ brother Chris, who also works for West Moreton Health, is another regular donor.

Mr Owens urged anyone in the community who had ever considered donating to make an appointment.

“Every now and then I’ll get a text message from the Red Cross telling you that your blood has saved the life of someone in Bundaberg, because it is has the trackability – it’s pretty amazing really because you are literally saving lives and not everyone can do that.

“So if you are eligible, it doesn’t take as long as you might think, it really doesn’t hurt as much as you think, and you feel good about doing it – so why not?”

Mr Owens is currently representing West Moreton Health in the Health Services Blood Drive, a national competition organised by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood to encourage health workers to donate blood.

For more information about blood and plasma donations, and where to donate near you, visit donateblood.com.au