This year the Western Sydney University Lifeblood Champions topped the charts with the winners announced at the Student leader’s Night: Our stars of Western on 22 November. The initiative started in 2017 at Penrith campus, and now marks its third year, the second year in a row of the now cross-campus rivalry. The blood rival competition saw an astonishing 179 blood donations, saving up to 537 lives. On top of these donations, WSU also managed to register 44 new donors writes Sarah Cupitt.
The overall target for the challenge was set to save 300 lives between 1 August – 31 October 2019 across all participating campuses. The staff and students visited their nearby Red Cross donation centre, and registered their campus online, or in the Donor Centre when making their donation. Last year, Western students and staff saved just short of 300 lives with their donations. With every donation changing lives, it’s a real achievement to have topped the goal by 237 lives! Of course, no competition is complete without winners! Check out this year’s round-up of results.
| Award | Lifeblood Team | Results |
| Most Lives Saved | Western Sydney University (WSU) Parramatta Campus | 129 |
| Most Plasma Donations | Western Sydney University (WSU) Parramatta Campus | 21 |
| Most New Donors | Western Sydney University (WSU) Penrith Campus | 12 |
| Total Donors vs Red25 Members (%) | Western Sydney University (WSU) Liverpool Campus | 34.4% |
Data provided by Ronny Maroun, Group Account Manager for Australian Red Cross Lifeblood.
Mandii Carr, who started the powerful and life-changing initiative on behalf of WSU in 2017, felt like young people were not being targeted to engage with blood donations. “I really wanted the program to encourage other young people to want to get involved with saving lives. To see the initiative grow into a cross-campus challenge has been the best thing I’ve done at Western. I am looking forward to seeing it grow and become a part of Western Sydney culture,” Mandii Carr, SRC Vice President – Activities.
SRC President Matthew Bojanic also thinks that it’s fantastic that this program also brings the University closer together. Initiatives that encourage pride in one’s campus by pitting them against one another, are few and far between, and so I think that the competitive nature of Who Bleeds Wins is fundamental to its success.
SRC representatives Sarah Cupitt, Clare Da Silva and Natasha Ferrer.
Matthew Bojanic, who presented the awards argues that Who Bleeds Wins is one of the best initiatives that the SRC has ever supported and it’s great to see how Mandii’s passion for helping others has expanded well beyond Western, and into our region. “Her program not only helps save hundreds of lives every year, but I would argue more importantly, it encourages a greater number of people to become donors. As someone studying to become a medical professional, I see every day the importance of my patients having access to blood products, which is why raising awareness of Red Cross Lifeblood’s tremendous work in our community paramount, as we’re always just scraping through.”
The competition is over, but the need remains Australia needs 25,000 donations every week, year-round. That need for blood is constant — and you can help. If you would like to organise a group blood donation, please don’t hesitate to contact your Group Account Manager. Thank you to all students for your support during the 2019 Western Sydney University Who Bleeds Wins Blood Rivals Competition and get ready to win the challenge in 2020!
Published: W’SUP & Medium
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