Celebrating Bermuda’s “50 Club” Blood Donors

17 May 2018: Bermuda Hospitals Board today thanks Peter Barrett for his kind donation of a plaque that lists the names of current Bermuda donors who have made 50 or more blood or apheresis donations. The plaque donation is in honour of his father, Leslie Barrett.

Installed in the entry hallway of the Bermuda Blood Donor Centre on the first floor of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, the plaque lists over 100 names. There is a lot of space for future names, so people are also being encouraged to start and keep giving regularly.

Lucy Correia, Blood Donor Centre Nurse Phlebotomist, comments: “We are very grateful to Peter Barrett for the gift in honour of his father and excited to be able to recognize the people in Bermuda who have achieved 50 or more blood or apheresis donations. Only our most dedicated donors reach this target and we hope more will be encouraged to do so.  If someone donated blood every two months (the minimum time between donations), it would takes over eight years to reach 50 donations! It is a real commitment to caring for the community.”

Dr Eyitayo Fakunle,  Consultant  Haematologist, adds: “It is wonderful to honour the people in our community who regularly donate blood to save lives and treat challenging conditions like cancer and sickle cell anaemia.  As each pint of donated blood can help up to three people, each donor on this plaque could have each helped up to 150 people in Bermuda.  That’s a wonderful legacy and we hope more people are encouraged to get their name on the 50 Donations plaque. If you haven’t donated in a while, or are building up courage to come for the first time, we would love to hear from you at 236-5067, or blooddonor@bhb.bm.”

Pictured above are members of ‘The 50 Club’, Betsie Blooddrop (left) and Mr Peter Barrett (holding the plaque on the right).