Blood, plasma and cheers - donor centre boss celebrates 30 years doing the 'best job in the world'

Lyn Lindley reckons she’s got the best job in the world, even though she’s surrounded all day by blood.

However, the lifesaving blood is the result of donations to the Lifeblood Donor Centre in Wollongong, formerly known as the Blood Bank.

Invaluable donors and volunteers usually get the spotlight at Lifeblood, but the donor centre manager was the centre of attention recently when her staff, colleagues and family surprised her with a celebration to mark her 30 years with the organisation.

“It was such a surprise; they hid it all from me, I had no idea,” Lyn said, sitting in her office surrounded by flowers and balloons.

“My partner and my children said my parents were down and wanted to have a coffee with me.

“So we went next door for coffee then walked back in here … I normally don’t get surprised and normally don’t get teary, but I was both, a bit emotional and overwhelmed with it all, it was so beautiful.

“I’ve got the best job in the world – amazing people, amazing donors. It’s such a lovely, happy environment – a great place to work.”

Lyn was a registered nurse when she started with Lifeblood.

“I went from oncology, did my midwifery training and then I went to the children’s ward and one of my friends used to work in the Blood Bank,” she said.

“I thought, oh, that’ll be nice for something new. And then I stayed and worked my way up, from registered nurse to session leader, nurse unit manager and now the donor centre manager.

“You’re able to do all sorts of things within Lifeblood and I’m truly grateful for my working career.

“We’ve grown a lot but the core business, from 30 years ago to now, is the same. It’s all about people, the community doing amazing altruistic things for people who need it and those core values haven’t changed at all. It’s all about people.”

Lyn has been on the receiving end of blood donations and remains grateful to the donor who helped to save her life.

“Life Blood’s given me everything in my life and it saved my life as well,” she said.

“I’d just started and I had a ruptured aortic aneurysm. I was in intensive care for six weeks or so, I had a cardiac arrest and without blood products, the doctors wouldn’t have saved me.

“I wouldn’t be here and my daughter, who was two at the time, wouldn’t have had a mum, and I wouldn’t have had my son without blood donors. So I’m absolutely grateful and understand the importance and significance of all donations.”

The Wollongong Lifeblood Centre collects about 80 to 100 donations a day of blood and plasma. Its mobile unit, which travels around the Illawarra as well as Bowral, Camden, Batemans Bay and Ulladulla, is the highest collecting unit in the country.

Lyn said the average blood donation took about 10 minutes to collect 470 mls. A plasma donation, which can be done every two weeks, takes about 40 minutes to an hour.

“You can sit back while you’re donating and have a milkshake, you can read a book, or you can watch TV while you’re saving lives,” Lyn said.

Lifeblood Wollongong Donor Centre is at 45-53 Kembla Street, with parking down Doughy Davis Lane. Details of mobile unit locations are also on the website.