Community and charity are two things that flow in Dungog's veins but on Friday, June 2, The Dungog Shire had the chance to prove it.
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This came as the Lifeblood AU van made its way into Dungog, giving people the opportunity to donate their blood.
A grand total of 27 people made bookings to donate blood this time, however this can vary from visit to visit according to the van's session leader Jennifer Marquett.
"It does vary quite a lot, this is a great site, it's not a bad site... You do get a lot of older donors and you just sort of hope that the new younger ones in the town would come along," Ms Marquett said.
"[We got] 27 today... It's not too bad at all.
"Right now things are very low. We're desperate for O and A blood groups so they're the ones that we're trying to get in right now everywhere."
Ms Marquett has been working with the Lifeblood van for 22 years and has seen how attitudes towards donating blood have changed, especially in regional shires like Dungog.
In other news:
"The reason why our mobiles do get around to smaller towns, a lot of the time it's because the town wants us here, they want to support us, they want to do more of a community type thing," she said.
"Smaller towns, because they may not have the numbers that we need and it is an expensive thing... We do need to keep those numbers up.
"Unfortunately sometimes you may go to sites and over the years it just gets quieter and quieter."
One of the people who donated was Anthony Judd, a paramedic from Stroud.
As a paramedic Mr Judd knows the importance of donating blood on a day-to-day basis through his work. Because of this, he has donated blood a total of 32 times with the Lifeblood van.
"We see a lot of people that are in car accidents or have fallen off homes or buildings and things like that and require surgery and blood products," Mr Judd said.
"We also come across a lot of people that have illnesses and require those products to make them healthy again.
"So eventually we get to see those people back again when they're well after having had donated blood given to them."
"The more that we can donate when we are healthy the more that's available for people for those operations or for them to recover from trauma."
More information regarding the donation process and the donation criteria can be found on the Lifeblood website, which is lifeblood.com.au
The lifeblood van will return to Dungog on Friday, September 1.
Angus Michie
Angus Michie is a reporter with the Dungog Chronicle. He has an interest in community and council reporting.
Angus Michie is a reporter with the Dungog Chronicle. He has an interest in community and council reporting.
