Galway motorbike enthusiasts make life or death deliveries

Emergency voluntary service Blood Bike West has expanded its fleet of motorcycles with the launch of its latest vehicle, ‘Juliet’.

Blood Bike West is a charitable organisation which comprises a number of motorbike enthusiasts who volunteer to provide an emergency out-of-hours free service to the HSE in the West of Ireland.

They collect and delivering all manner of urgent medical items such as bloods, breast milk, medicines, scans, and other urgent medical equipment and supplies from North to South and East to West.

As the charity moves into its third year of operation, demand for its services continues to grow, resulting in a need to add Juliet to the already efficient fleet. Juliet was launched at an event which was hosted at Western Motors in Ballybrit by Mayor of Galway, Cllr Donal Lyons.

“Blood Bike West were a Mayor’s Award Prize winner in 2014 for their services to the community, and we wanted to both thank Galway City for the honour of the award, and have our mayor be involved in the naming ceremony for our latest fleet addition,” explained PRO of Blood Bike West, John Moylan.

Despite its youth, the charity has already adopted a tradition; that is, naming its fleet after people they have engaged with in some special way. Each motorcycle is named after a patient who has been helped by Blood Bike West, or who had a special connection with the charity.

“Our current motorcycle, Sophie, is named after a young lady with whom we have been involved for a few years now, and whose dad, Vincent, is now part and parcel of our entourage, whilst our launch night for the motorcycle, Juliet, has an equally special connection,” said Mr Moylan.

Juliet, a 700cc Honda, is named after baby Juliet Quirke, born in 2014. In the course of the pregnancy, Juliet’s mother was in need of a specialist transfusion before Juliet was born, and as part of that process, Blood Bike West were required to perform a very urgent run of blood samples to Dublin.

The resultant medical care that followed the run ensured that baby Juliet was born healthy to mum Gabriella and dad Alan, thanks to Blood Bike West rider Mick Carty who was on call at the time.

“When we were looking for a name for the bike, we remembered this trip, made enquiries via the hospital and learned the whole Juliet story. So Mam, Dad and Juliet joined us for the formal naming and rollout of our latest steed, and we were delighted to have them with us. We do think it is worth making the connection for us as well as patients and the medics involved,” said Mr Moylan.

Blood Bike West’s mission is to act as an Emergency Rider Voluntary service, which aims to relieve sickness and protect health by providing urgently-needed medical supplies between hospitals and blood transfusion banks.

The charity’s hours of service are 7pm to 7am Monday to Thursday, and the group is on call from 7pm on Friday through to 7am on Monday (24-hour weekend coverage), to ensure nobody goes without urgently-needed supplies over the weekend.

“At times of curtailment of services in health for reasons of resources, the role of charities in general is more important than ever,” said Mr Moylan.

“There is the added social benefit in involving local people in a community effort for the good of those who need our help. And specially-focused charities like Blood Bike West can offer not only relief from the resource issue, but also an opportunity for the required service to improve on that even normally available.

“For example, what Blood Bike West does in particular is allow the clinicians to continue their great work, freed from any undue issue of whether a particular task happens seamlessly in an out-of-hours or emergency situation, just by calling us. As Blood Bike West provides the service free of charge, it allows clinical decisions to be made on a clinical basis, not a logistical one.”

But because the service is voluntary, it relies on help and donations as it grows from strength to strength.

“Funding is the bane of every charity, but a vital one, and we hold events such as our upcoming Bingo night in Athenry on May 22, as well as other events and collections throughout the year,” he said.

The charity also provides a marshalling service for road-based sports events as a way to raise funds, as well has bringing a number of business sponsors on board to help with costs – though they will always welcome more sponsors.

“But we need people. There is more to Blood Bike West than riding a motorcycle. We need committee and volunteer posts filled, controllers, organisers, fundraisers. The act of moving our deliveries on a motorcycle is but a part of it.”

You can make a donation through bloodbikewest.ie or by texting BLOOD to 50300.