Working Life: We're urging young people to consider donating blood

Orla O’Brien, CEO, Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS)

Orla O’Brien, CEO, Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS)

“I left home in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, aged 17 to train as a nurse in Dublin. I was a child of the ’80s, and at that time, you took the first offer that came along. Fortunately, healthcare was my passion from day one.

“My identical twin sister Dervila and I trained in Crumlin Children’s Hospital and St James’s Hospital. We were two of the first paediatric intensive care nurses trained in Ireland.

“Dervila later went into the pharmaceutical industry, and I stayed in healthcare. As I specialised in cardiac and ICU, a lot of my work focused on developing business cases for funding to develop paediatric services. It ultimately led to a job in the Department of Health, where I got to see healthcare at policy level. The opportunity gave me a deep understanding of how the system worked and how to get things done.

“I was CEO for a time at LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, and before that, I was chief operations officer at the Children’s Hospital Group. I’ve been CEO at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) since 2020, a national service that is an essential part of the Irish healthcare system. We can only provide blood and blood products to hospitals thanks to the generosity of our amazing donors. Every week, we need to collect 3,200 units of blood, with two-thirds of all donations needed for patients undergoing cancer treatment.

“Right now, we are running our new ‘Every Drop Counts’ campaign, in partnership with GAA clubs, urging young people to consider donating blood. Starting from a young age helps develop a sense of civic responsibility, knowing your selfless act has helped save or improve someone’s life.

“Just 17% of our donors are aged 18 to 30. We want to grow that figure to meet increasing hospital demands. Every year, around 10,000 donors have to be removed from our panel for various reasons. We recently had an email from a lifelong donor who could no longer donate due to his own health concerns. He described his donation journey as “one of my life’s greatest privileges”. That’s what we want to instil in our younger donors.

The IBTS is asking young people to consider giving blood for the first time and help save lives. To check eligibility and find your nearest donation clinic, visit giveblood.ie