A series of recently released short films are highlighting the good work of the "Blood Bikers" of Wales, volunteers who use their two-wheel expertise to race blood and medical supplies around the country, according to ITV.
The efforts of the charity Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB) mean that patients in desperate need of a diagnosis can have their samples rushed to the lab, or those in need of blood can get lifesaving transfusions. In fact, in 2013 the organization handled 35,000 urgent hospital requests.
In addition to saving lives, the NABB also saves the cash-strapped National Health Service (NHS) considerable money. They shuttle anything from medicine to breast milk. “Basically,” NABB chairman John Stepney told The Guardian, “anything you can get on the back of a bike.”
One chapter, Blood Bikers Wales, in fact, saved the NHS $100,000 a year moving medical matériel. Its 224 volunteers not only save that money, but raised over $20,000 in donations to pay for fuel and other costs as well.
How big a difference do the cyclist volunteers make? “The blood bikers are vitally important to us,” Dr. Martin Myers, clinical director of pathology at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, told the paper. “They help us at any time of day or night.”
A recent "Point of Light" Award from the U.K. prime minister has just raised the organization's profile significantly. And the short films have generated interest from as far away as Canada and Australia from bikers eager to take this idea on the road – in their local communities.
The volunteer effort started in the UK in the 1960s. Back then bikers' image was more Hell's Angels than angelic. A group started to "do something for the community that would give [bikers] a more upbeat image," Stepney told National Geographic. In 2008 a boost in positive publicity led to a surge of volunteers, now totally about 1,500.
"It's an idea that is catching on," Stepney told the publication.
And why not? It's good for the bikers involved, said one, to show the public that they are not “not just a group of mad, hairy bikers looking for an adrenaline rush.”
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Consider blood biker David Wilbraham. He is honorary canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and has ridden the roads on his volunteer medical missions for nearly a decade. He is also a full-time police chaplain. “When I heard about the blood bikes I thought, Yes! I could do this,” he told the Guardian.
“It combines the skills and passions I have gained over these many years and you’re doing some good that is making a difference. Me being out doing what I love at night is nothing compared to the family who are at the bedside of a loved one.”
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