Did you know?

• 1 in 3 Australians will need blood at some stage during their lifetime – but only 1 in 30 give it.

• Australia needs over 27,000 blood donations per week to ensure there are adequate supplies for those people who need it. That’s over 1 million a year.

• 34% of blood donated helps cancer patients, 14% helps people with heart, stomach and kidney disease, and 2% goes to trauma and accident victims. It also helps premature babies, expectant mums, and burn victims.

• Giving blood takes only one hour of your time and it can help save the life of up to three Australians. Your body keeps discarding and replenishing blood all the time, whether you give it or not, so you may as well put that ‘spare’ blood to good use.

• Many people with common blood types wrongly assume that their blood is not needed. In actual fact, a majority of patients in hospital are likely to have a common blood type, making this high in demand.

• A single blood donation, when separated into its components, can help at least three different patients and contribute to making up to 20 different products.

How do you get amongst this fantastic AMSA initiative?

Call 13 14 95 to make an appointment at your local centre.

You can donate as many times as is possible during the competition.

Last year only 4.5% of NDers gave blood during the challenge, this year lets roll up our sleeves and show the Nation what MSANDers are made of! The tally is recorded as the percentage of students donating, so we are definitely in with a chance to win this!

After you've donated, register your donation at donateblood.com.au/clubred by first selecting "blood challenges" and then selecting "AMSA Blood drive 2011," you can then register you donation for the University of Notre Dame Fremantle. You'll need your donor ID to register, so if you don't know yours ask for it when you donate!

You can track our progress at www.amsa.org.au/amsa-national-blood-drive

Let the blood leeching begin!