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blood bikes

Blood Bikes: These riders will be working 24/7 over Christmas to help those who need it

Blood Bikes East, a volunteer courier service of elite bikers transporting urgent medical supplies, will be working 24/7 over the Christmas period to make sure they are there when people need them.

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SINCE BEING ESTABLISHED in 2012, Blood Bikes East has performed more than 11,000 runs of urgent medical samples and supplies. And all for free.

“No one gets paid for any of the services they provide,” says Paddy Crawford, chairman of the organisation. “It’s just a way that we can all give back to our community.”

The charity has six high-spec motorbikes, on call outside working hours, to make crucial deliveries (primarily blood samples but also all manner of other medical supplies) either between or to hospitals in the greater Dublin area.

Over the Christmas to New Year period in 2016 they completed over 150 callouts – and provided 24/7 cover for the whole period.

While its drivers can never know what to expect for 2017, they will be there to work through the festive season.

“When there’s a service like ours at play,” says committee member Denver Breslin, “it’s putting the savings straight back into frontline patient care.”

Read: ‘An indispensable service you may never have heard of just completed its 10,000th delivery’

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