RE: Bloodbike Delivers Lasting Legacy
Discussion
I'll assume you are in Kent so a rough guide is as follows, obviously if you are in a different county, things may be different and certainly when I see some of the mileages that the guys in Scotland cover it's hair curling.
For Kent, the county is divided roughly into 2 halves "east" & "west" and riders are generally trained for either half. The East covers 3 hospitals and the West 4 with Ashford being a bit of an either/or dependant on what is coming or going to/from it. There is a changeover point near Gillingham between the 2 areas. The "west" generally covers upto another changeover point with South London inside of the M25 north of Gatwick. So mileages could be anything within those sort of limits.
However as with all things once you've been doing it a while, you could find the need to train for all of Kent, plus London Hospitals, plus London Bloodbanks, along with other things that could include additional nights on call, plus daytimes at weekends, plus regular weekend van runs, and coming up soon Air Ambulance resupply work.
The general ask if using your own bike or car is for a commitment of at least 2 nights per month, it is cars as well as bikes and certainly as we move more into the winter the cars will become more and more important as the boxes are not certified for bike use once it gets down near freezing. Plus of course there is always the requirement for controllers, same degree of commitment but they don't often leave the warmth of home
they do however have to do the tricky phone work of tieing up all the collections/changeovers & deliveries and often actually get less sleep than the riders/drivers.
There are of course on top of peoples own vehicles a handful of bikes (and a van) that run on a "response" basis very much ad hoc and as required to give the charity the maximum amount of flexibility, these vehicles are dedicated to this single purpose and are not used for any thing else. The 'Busa is one of these and is on permanent call with riders changing over week on week off, it will normally be out 2-3 times per week.
As with all things, after the minimum level of commitment of 2x nights a month on call it's upto the individual how much more they want or can afford to give.
For Kent, the county is divided roughly into 2 halves "east" & "west" and riders are generally trained for either half. The East covers 3 hospitals and the West 4 with Ashford being a bit of an either/or dependant on what is coming or going to/from it. There is a changeover point near Gillingham between the 2 areas. The "west" generally covers upto another changeover point with South London inside of the M25 north of Gatwick. So mileages could be anything within those sort of limits.
However as with all things once you've been doing it a while, you could find the need to train for all of Kent, plus London Hospitals, plus London Bloodbanks, along with other things that could include additional nights on call, plus daytimes at weekends, plus regular weekend van runs, and coming up soon Air Ambulance resupply work.
The general ask if using your own bike or car is for a commitment of at least 2 nights per month, it is cars as well as bikes and certainly as we move more into the winter the cars will become more and more important as the boxes are not certified for bike use once it gets down near freezing. Plus of course there is always the requirement for controllers, same degree of commitment but they don't often leave the warmth of home
they do however have to do the tricky phone work of tieing up all the collections/changeovers & deliveries and often actually get less sleep than the riders/drivers.There are of course on top of peoples own vehicles a handful of bikes (and a van) that run on a "response" basis very much ad hoc and as required to give the charity the maximum amount of flexibility, these vehicles are dedicated to this single purpose and are not used for any thing else. The 'Busa is one of these and is on permanent call with riders changing over week on week off, it will normally be out 2-3 times per week.
As with all things, after the minimum level of commitment of 2x nights a month on call it's upto the individual how much more they want or can afford to give.
Read more about the remarkable Ali B and his bike.
And don't forget the JustGiving donation link, nor the option of donating with your mobile phone: simple text "SERV60 £10" or "SERV60 £5" to 70070.
And don't forget the JustGiving donation link, nor the option of donating with your mobile phone: simple text "SERV60 £10" or "SERV60 £5" to 70070.
To give a little feel of what a typical night can involve.
Last night a single incident at a hospital on the Kent coast created a need for blood and platelets, and lots of them. Throughout the night 7 volunteers were kept busy bringing blood in from surrounding hospitals for this one need until the point was reached where everyone else was also critically low on stocks. The "Ali B" was called for just before 4am and requested to go into London to the central bloodbank to collect an emergency resupply for the regional trauma centre. By 6am the bike had covered 120 miles and both collected and dropped off it's life saving cargo. The weather conditions were foggy drizzle and at the start of the run it was still dark, this dictated that progress had to be swift but safe as it must never be forgotten that the cargo on the back should be treated as a pillion, it is literally someone's life in the box.
All riders involved and the controller who was up almost all night co-ordinating the response were volunteers who cover their own fuel and running costs, you do not get any more of a direct to source charity than that. The money raised by PH for this appeal will go directly to funding more bikes for use on nights like this. It is estimated that the savings to the NHS for last night alone would have run into the thousands of pounds, as it is this money can now be put to use in other care critical ways rather than lost in transportation costs.
Last night a single incident at a hospital on the Kent coast created a need for blood and platelets, and lots of them. Throughout the night 7 volunteers were kept busy bringing blood in from surrounding hospitals for this one need until the point was reached where everyone else was also critically low on stocks. The "Ali B" was called for just before 4am and requested to go into London to the central bloodbank to collect an emergency resupply for the regional trauma centre. By 6am the bike had covered 120 miles and both collected and dropped off it's life saving cargo. The weather conditions were foggy drizzle and at the start of the run it was still dark, this dictated that progress had to be swift but safe as it must never be forgotten that the cargo on the back should be treated as a pillion, it is literally someone's life in the box.
All riders involved and the controller who was up almost all night co-ordinating the response were volunteers who cover their own fuel and running costs, you do not get any more of a direct to source charity than that. The money raised by PH for this appeal will go directly to funding more bikes for use on nights like this. It is estimated that the savings to the NHS for last night alone would have run into the thousands of pounds, as it is this money can now be put to use in other care critical ways rather than lost in transportation costs.
Busy night for the bloodbikes - more needed. 
Ali B Memorial Bike on Twitter said:
For us an early start with a 5am long haul run from Tooting South London all the way to Ashford, fog + greasy roads meant swift but safe.
Follow @Busa_Bloodbike and help us add PH bikes to the fleet. Thanks for the more detailed info, all very interesting to learn more about the work you all do without the general public realising. I didn't realise you had a fleet of vehicles, other than the busa, do they have full tiime riders or are they still ridden by the volunteers? What does the training consist of? Any pictures of the bikes loaded up with the boxes? I'm still struggling to work out how to fit one!
Will you be exhibiting at any of the bike shows coming up?
Will you be exhibiting at any of the bike shows coming up?
sjj84 said:
Thanks for the more detailed info, all very interesting to learn more about the work you all do without the general public realising. I didn't realise you had a fleet of vehicles, other than the busa, do they have full tiime riders or are they still ridden by the volunteers?
There are no full time paid riders or infact any paid staff within SERV, everyone who works for the charity does so on a voluntary basis. In Kent the general rule of thumb is to try and achieve 2 dedicated vehicles per hospital covered plus dedicated vehicles for the Air Ambulance. We are currently 3 vehicles short of this target. sjj84 said:
What does the training consist of?
Different areas have different requirements some groups insist on RoSPA/IAM qualifications, some will simply require an in house training assessment of riding (normally done by Police instructors or advanced trainers) There will then be product and protocol training for transport of bio hazard etc which is annual and takes a few hours. All "response" riders who use fleet vehicles will have undergone further advanced rider training. sjj84 said:
Any pictures of the bikes loaded up with the boxes? I'm still struggling to work out how to fit one!
Plenty here but really if you've got a rear rack they will bungee on or some people carry them on the rear seat, most fleet bikes are geared up around carrying 2 boxes as a time.sjj84 said:
Will you be exhibiting at any of the bike shows coming up?
It all depends who will give us some floor space, as a charity they take great pride in the fact that every penny goes towards service provision, nothing gets spent on administration, exhibitions or promotional work unless it is specifically donated as such. For example the other weekend we had two bikes at Brands for BSB, corporate hospitality for our sponsors, a box and a terrace for members. But this had been donated by the box owner specifically for this use. We also work very closely with the Fire Bike Team from KFRS and cross promote each other, so have a gratuitous photo of the Blood Busa and the Fire Bike 
@Busa_Bloodbike was out again last night. 
Ali B Memorial Bike on Twitter said:
The long run to Ashford again last night, always an enjoyable trip and good to have a chat with the Paramedics having bike envy :-)
Remember to make those donations ( JustGiving link, or with your mobile phone text "SERV60 £10" or "SERV60 £5" to 70070). Just done a "#ff" on twitter for @Busa_Bloodbike hope some people contribute to http://www.justgiving.com/Mel-Johnson1
Just to give another little update, a further £429.79 was raised from the "bucket shaking" at the Sunday Service MBW.
There have also been some very interesting developments over the last week or so which will be keeping me busy for the next few months, there are some very significant changes coming up which will hopefully raise the profile of the volunteer Bloodbikes massively. It feels almost like the charity will be moving up a league, I can't be any more specific yet but watch this space.
There have also been some very interesting developments over the last week or so which will be keeping me busy for the next few months, there are some very significant changes coming up which will hopefully raise the profile of the volunteer Bloodbikes massively. It feels almost like the charity will be moving up a league, I can't be any more specific yet but watch this space.
mel said:
Just to give another little update, a further £429.79 was raised from the "bucket shaking" at the Sunday Service MBW.
Huge thanks to everyone who contributed.This makes the new total on the JustGiving donation page £1,330.
Remember we are looking to raise £10,000 to put a PH Bloodbike on the fleet. Please consider donating at the above page, or via your mobile phone by texting "SERV60 £10" to 70070.
A busy week for the current bloodbike.
Busa_Bloodbike on 6 November said:
200 miles covered and 4 hours last night, a monster one for sure but we wouldn't do it unless we were happy to.
Busa_Bloodbike on 8 November said:
Another long haul early morning run for the 'busa 4.00am Hooley to Ashford. Filling a gap for the NHS in a professional way at no cost.
And of course Busa_Bloodbike on 31 October said:
I've come for the Blood.
Well today the announcement has gone public and I'm pleased to say that SERV groups Kent & Surrey will shortly become the first Bloodbike groups in the country to start directly supporting their Air Ambulances. The project will go live on the 4th Feb next year and it is projected over the course of a 12 month period the facility to intravenously transfuse blood at the scene of an accident will have a direct life saving or changing effect on around 70 patients (47% of which are road traffic collisions) and obviously their families. This is a major project that we've working on for a few months already and will have a very real and tangible effect which we are proud to be part of. It will however require a considerable commitment to provide full 24/7 365 days a year cover, and need more volunteers and obviously bikes!
mel said:
Well today the announcement has gone public and I'm pleased to say that SERV groups Kent & Surrey will shortly become the first Bloodbike groups in the country to start directly supporting their Air Ambulances. The project will go live on the 4th Feb next year and it is projected over the course of a 12 month period the facility to intravenously transfuse blood at the scene of an accident will have a direct life saving or changing effect on around 70 patients (47% of which are road traffic collisions) and obviously their families. This is a major project that we've working on for a few months already and will have a very real and tangible effect which we are proud to be part of. It will however require a considerable commitment to provide full 24/7 365 days a year cover, and need more volunteers and obviously bikes!
Nice one Mel. To improve the chances of 70 patients like this is a massive, massive achievement. Plus, you get to chase a helicopter on a bike, which is pretty bloody cool by any measure...
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