Latest news on Vampire 8 (Higgi Bloodbike) Aug – Sept 2017

As always it has been a busy month for Merseyside & Cheshire Blood Bikes; the group is still breaking the 500 runs a month mark and the entire fleet has been extremely active as usual.

Vampire 8 is currently our preferred machine for the Graveyard Shift. Due to its age, it is our most reliable machine in the fleet and typically runs that come in between midnight and 6am are urgent and critical jobs (I guess at that time of the night if you’re not critically ill samples can wait until the next morning), therefore it pays dividends to have this machine available.

Typically we only have one rider on duty at this time during the night and therefore it covers ground across the entire region. As of Tuesday 26th September, she had clocked over 5000 Miles.

But it doesn’t stop there. Graveyard Shift finishes and it is returned to its cave and within the next hour, it is collected by the day team who then cover runs across the Merseyside hospitals. Mostly Aintree Hospital due to the critical care centre (Walton Centre) and the Renal unit. 90% of these jobs require Blue Lights and sirens and, as we are aware from previous reports, the system on Vampire 8 is incredibly effective.

Coverage this month has increased further during September due to a number of the older fleet bikes being off the road for repairs. An already stretched fleet has been more than thankful for your incredibly generous lifesaving donation.

In brief:

• Multiple Blue Light runs from Aintree Walton Centre (Horsley ITU) Crossmatch Samples for Organ Donation unit at Liverpool Royal University Hospital (LRUH)
• 4 Frozen Section Runs (sections of a Liver) to be analysed at LRUH whilst the patient is still in the operating theatre
• Nuclear Medicines runs from Clatterbridge. This Run saves the team considerable time in getting a unit of blood to LRUH to be made radioactive. It takes Vampire 8 on average 11 minutes compared to the 35 minutes required by a taxi which would need to queue into the tunnel and fight through rush hour traffic
• Several Milk runs moving valuable donated expressed breast milk to neo-natal children.
• Blood units to and from Marie Curie Hospice
• Blood Samples from Clatterbridge & Warrington Hospitals, typically through the twilight hours
• A primary school visit to educate youngsters into exactly what the service provides and how it operates.

Once again, on behalf of Merseyside & Cheshire Blood Bikes, thank you for your incredible donation, long may it continue to save lives.