Dublin County Matters, Irish TV

A small segment by Dublin County Matters on Irish TV, screened on SKY 191 on November 13th 2014.

Gordon, Geraldine O'Callaghan, Keith & Fergus

Geraldine and Leah

Leah, Aoibheann & Lima 3

Leah, Aoibheann, Gordon & Lima 3

Gordon, Geraldine O'Callaghan, Keith & Fergus

Westmeath County Matters, Irish TV

Filimed and broadcast in August 2014, Fergus Lennon gives a brief look at the Blood Bike Leinster service.

The Human Side of things

We always love to take time to chat and take photos with people when we are out and about. We recently met Joseph and his mum and had a great chat. 

We love it when we know that we can make a real difference to people and their families. Its always great to chat and show people the other side of things and give them a closer look at our equipment and how we operate. 

People are always surprised that we do it all for free and none of us get paid for their time or claim expenses. We are all volunteers and 100% of our money goes directly to providing the our service.

Birthday cake from Kildare treats

A special thanks to Orla from Kildare Treats who made our amazing cake for us. Orla makes amazing cakes so why not drop over and check them out on facebook or at her website. 

Fergus Lennon, Orla from Kildare Treats, Johnny Taaffe and Sabrina Taaffe

By Kildare Treats

Blood Bike Leinster's 1st Birthday at Barretstown

Many thanks to all who braved the terrible weather today, and helping us to celebrate our first official birthday at Barretstown Gang Camp. The Taaffe family were presented with a certificate of appreciation for their amazing support to Blood Bike Leinster.

Damien Stafford and Sabrina Taaffe

Damien Stafford and Taaffe Family

We are very grateful to Barretstown for having us over and we are very proud to be serving them and the wonderful work they do.

Blood Bike Leinster and Orla from  Kildare treats  at the iconic Red Door at Barretstown

Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar Meeting with Blood Bike Leinster

Meeting with Minister for Health, Leo Varadker and Blood Bike Leinster discussing Blood Bikes in Ireland.

https://twitter.com/campaignforleo/status/528143388046946305

http://leovaradkar.ie/2014/10/blood-bike-leinster/  

Fitsmile and Blood Bike Leinster (Liffey Champion 18th October 2014)

Fantastic write up on Fitsmile's event held for Blood Bike Leinster recently in the Mill Celbridge.

Fitsmile and Blood Bike Leinster (Liffey Champion 11th October 2014)

Beautifull photograph of Fitsmile instructor Alicja Fedoron on the front page of the Liffey Champion.

Photograph was taken at a fundraiser for Blood Bike Leinster by Fitsmile in Celbridge.

Credit: Liffey Champion & Garry Bermingham

Credit: Liffey Champion & Garry Bermingham

Blood Bikers Cartoon Strip

Supporting BUMBLEance on thier Dingle to Dublin push 2014 (Dublin).

Great BUZZ today on the top of Grafton St for the arrival of the BUMBLEance push from Dingle to Dublin where they were welcomed by 2 Blood Bike Groups. Congratulations to our team member Angela Faney who pushed the ambulance from Kill to Dublin. Great work all around.

Blood Bike Leinster: Gordon, Angela (who pushed the Bumbleance from Kill to Dublin), Damien and Fergus

Blood Bike fleet

BUMBLEance team with Blood Bike Teams

Blood Bike fleet

Blood Bike Fleet

Fergus, Gordon & Damien

Blood Bike Fleet

Blood Bike fleet

Supporting BUMBLEance on thier Dingle to Dublin push 2014 (Mountrath).

Where possible Blood Bike Leinster support worty causes, and today we met with Tony Heffernan and his team from Bumbleance. As part of a fundraising effort to fund a second ambulance Tony and his team are pushing an ambulance from Dingle to Dublin and we met them today to show our support.

Tony Heffernan from BUMBLEance, and Leah

Tony Heffernan from BUMBLEance, and Leah

Blood Bike Leinster with BUMBLEance. Credit: Niamh Ryan

The Square Tallaght with Leo Varadker Minister for Health

Blood Bike Leinster would like to thank the Management, Staff of the square for all their help today, Customers who donated to our fundraiser, a Special thanks to Minister for Health Leo Varadker for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us.

Setting up our stand with Leah

Leah, Sharon and Gordon

Fergus and Minister Varadker

Leah, Sharon and Gordon

Salute 2014

Blood Bike Leinster were once again delighted to attend the Salute show in the National Show Centre in Swords. This is Blood Bike Leinster's second year at Salute and we look forward to many more.

Mark, Jamie, Josh and Leah

Salute fan and Leah

Damien and Leah

Blood Bike Selfie

Jamie, Josh, Gordon and Leah

Damien, Nick, Gordon and Leah

Nick, Damien and Leah

Tullamore Tribune (Bikers Ride Out For Prems)

Blood Bike Leinster supports the event Bikers Ride Out For Prems in helping them to raise money for lifesaving equipment for hospitals with ICUs in them for premature babies. All year this group fundraise to purchase this equipment and one of these events took place on Saturday the 26th July 2014 one of these events took place. Tullamore Ride Out For Prems was a fantastic success and all proceeds will go to buy equipment.

This day was a great success and keep your eye out for future events for a great cause.
To follow "Bikers ride out for prems" progress and events why not follow the Facebook page.

Photos courtesy of Tullamore Tribune and Bikers Ride Out for Prems

Blood Bike Leinster's Fergus Lennon and Nigel Barlow at the event

Blood Bike Leinster's Fergus Lennon and Nigel Barlow along with our bikes Aoibheann and Leah at the event.

9th Lough Takaway donate to Blood Bike Leinster

Many thanks to the 9th Lough Takeaway, Clondalkin Village for their fantastic donation to Blood Bike Leinster. Its donations like this that enable us to run our free service to the hospitals.

Ricki Capocci presenting a cheque for €250 to Gordon Kiely from Blood Bike Leinster

Leinster Leader (Web edition) 2nd July 2014

A group of bikers have found a way to use their passion for good use with the establishment of Blood Bike Leinster, a service they offer free to medical world.

The concept of Blood Bike Leinster is very simple. The bikers, who have centres in Newbridge, Portlaoise and Navan, use their motorbikes to transport vitally needed supplies to and from clinics to hospitals.

The items can be anything from blood to scans, to samples for testing and even breast milk to maternity hospitals.

By virtue of being on powerful yet nimble motorbikes, the group can deliver the items quicker than conventional vehciles.

“While we don’t break the speed limts or break red lights, we have found that the motorists tend to be very accomodating, moving over to allow us to pass through,” Fergus Lennon who established the service told theLeinster Leader.

As well as being quicker, they’re also cheaper - in fact they’re free.

The group is a registered charity and bears the cost of buying the motorbikes which are ex-metropolitan police BMW’s bikes at a cost of approximately €8,000 each, insuring them, for €800 a pop per annum and fueling them - although that bit is reasonably inexpensive at €20 a week.

Servicing is donated to the group by a kind-hearted mechanic.

Fergus estimates that the cost saving to the HSE of about €12,000 since they were established, carrying out 170 runs since they were established in November of last year.

“We had to do an urgent run of breast milk from Galway to Crumlin which would have cost the hospital €600 to do.”

Blood bikes are not a new idea. They started in the UK in the 1960s and have spread to Ireland in the recent years.

“I’m a keen biker myself,” Fergus explained, “and like all bikers, I like getting out on my bike.”

The charity also work with Barretstown Camp near Ballymore Eustace and the Jockey Hospital on the Curragh, bringing samples back and forth to various hospitals regularly.

And in a poignant move, Fergus explained that one of the bikes has been named ‘Princess Leah’ after the young Robertstown girl who lost her brave battle with cancer earlier this year.

Leah’s mother, Sabrina Taaffe has donated funds to the group. The Naas Lions Club has also supported Blood Bike Leinster which hopes to expand its operations to more areas in the Leinster region.

If readers are interested in supporting them, see bloodbikeleinster.ie for details on fundraisers, or how to donate.

This article originally appeared in the web edition of Leinster Leader 2nd July 2014

http://m.leinsterleader.ie/news/local-news/blood-bike-leinster-provide-a-vital-service-1-6155312

A brief history of Blood Bikes

Following on from the success of Blood Bikes in the UK the service has moved to Ireland. Prior to 2012 there were no Blood Bike Groups in Ireland but today there are 7 groups operating in Ireland covering a vast area of the country. Blood Bike Leinster are one of these groups.

Blood Bike Leinster are a charity set up and equipped to transport blood, samples and urgent tests for hospitals in the mid Leinster area.
We use motorcycles to transport these items due to their manoeuvrability, versatility and fuel economy. Blood Bike Leinster’s highly visible vehicles are equipped to the highest standards and are excellent at manoeuvring through traffic. Blood Bike Leinster is an entirely volunteer run organisation. 100% of the money donated goes directly into the running costs of the service and as its administration is staffed by volunteers we spend no money on administration, wages or expenses. None of the volunteers receive any expenses or any monetary reward for their time.

We set this charity up to save our health service money so that more resources can be diverted into patient care as currently a substantial amount of money is being spent on transporting these items. It is our aim to cut the expenditure in this area and in the process try to increase the resources available to our local hospitals and in turn the local community.

Blood Bike Leinster are very committed to our service and when others are settling down on a rainy night, we are heading out onto the roads of Leinster to provide our service. Obviously safety is our primary concern so when the weather is not suitable such as high winds or icy roads we do use four wheeled vehicles to ensure the safety of our volunteers and our cargo. Our motorcycles are fitted to the highest emergency service standards with emergency blue lights, reflective decals and of course a professional rider. All of our riders are regularly assessed on their skills and are constantly training and up skilling all at their own expense. 

Blood Bike Leinster are also trained and qualified in GDP (Good distribution practice) which guarantees traceability and quality assurance of all our cargo, this was completed in conjunction with PLS Pharma.
We receive no government grants and are totally dependent on the goodwill of the public on our collection days. We always welcome any kind of donation or sponsorship and donations can be made via our website (PayPal) through the post, at one of our collection days or through our text donation service. Blood Bike Leinster are full members of Nationwide association of Blood Bikes in the UK which have 50 years of experience and are of great assistance due to their wealth of knowledge.

In Ireland nobody comes together more than bikers to raise money for charity. Every week there are Motorcycle clubs having sponsored runs for very worthy causes. Motorcyclists really come together when it comes to being active in society and so many of work for the same goals and Blood Bike Leinster is another part of that.
We enjoy our work immensely and whether its meeting people at our flag days taking photos and chatting with people, delivering milk into a maternity ward or delivering samples for Barretstown we all find it very rewarding and we are extremely proud of what we do.

You can donate to our service also by texting to our text donate service below.