Monthly Meeting Reports

Marge O’Brien, former superintendent and Blood Bank officer of the Traralgon Red Cross Service Company, came to reside in Traralgon in 1951 after marrying Jack O’Brien. They have four children, Chris, Peter, Susan and John, and ten beautiful grandchildren.

My first encounter with the Red Cross was in 1958 when I had just completed my fourth First Aid certificate. We were fortunate to have Russell Scott, a highly qualified ambulance officer, as our tutor. Russell suggested to Miss Bon Brown that I be examiner for the Red Cross First Aid classes conducted mainly for Girl Guides and school children.

In 1960, Bon invited me to be her assistant superintendent of the Red Cross Service Company. At this time Mrs Mary Walker was superintendent and Bon was her assistant of the Service Company. Joyce Dunbar was president of the Branch and Mrs. Clarke was secretary. When Mrs. Walker resigned, Bon became superintendent with myself as her assistant.

We were separate entities at this stage; the Company being responsible for the services and the Branch being the money raisers. The two groups supported each other even though we were answerable to two different chiefs at headquarters, ours being Mrs. Eccles Mackay. The outlying smaller towns of Gormandale, Flynn, Glengarry and Tyers were also affiliated with Traralgon. The Branch members were a wonderful support to us, raising funds, assisting at blood bank and other emergencies. By the mid ’60s the Traralgon Branch was all but extinct due to the ageing of most of its members. This left the Company members to do both services to the town and fund raising.

Two Red Cross Unit Blood Bank volunteers with a donor at Gormandale. 1984

Blood Bank, which was my main interest, commenced at the Latrobe Regional Hospital in 1958. Prior to this time Blood Bank was conducted at St James’ Hall. Bon was Blood Bank officer and her brother Jack was the first donor. Banks were held every second Tuesday with emergency bleeds in between. Thankfully the emergencies decreased with time as the storage of blood became more sophisticated. My husband, Jack, was often deployed to pick up donors in the middle of the night and bring them to Latrobe Regional Hospital. One Christmas was such an occasion when Dr Wadelton requested eight donors on Christmas Eve for one of his patients. Not one person refused our request for blood donation. A great Christmas present for a lucky patient.

At the 1976 Annual General Meeting at Stratford, I was presented with the Red Cross Service Award for my work with the Blood Banks; I was thrilled. Other enjoyable times included garden parties and lunches held at Government House, Ruby Foster’s, Boisdale House, Kit Challens’, Mount View Briagalong and Holey Plains, as well as being part of a group presented to Sir Rohan and Lady Delacombe when Traralgon was declared a city.

I still see many of the old donors who contributed some 175 donations. They lament the Blood Banks of years gone by when we would make a cake or goodies for donors who had donated 50 pints or more. How sad that things have changed and there are no more volunteers at Blood Bank but only paid, registered nurses. Attending is by appointment only and there are mountains of paperwork involved; I guess this is to protect the Red Cross from litigation if anything should go wrong. Still these generous people donate blood and Red Cross workers continue to give willingly of their time and effort.