04 Mar Volunteers like Paul are worth their weight in gold

Paul Duchemin (R), winner of the Volunteer of the Year Award, presented by sponsor Steve Barriball (L)

Volunteers are worth their weight in gold, and luckily, in Torbay, we have lots of them.

Not surprisingly, the Volunteer of the Year Award was the most hotly contested category in the recent Torbay Community Champion Awards, and the judges had their work cut out for them, narrowing the field down to just three before making the final selection.

How do you even begin to differentiate between someone who has organised an aid convoy to Ukraine from a longstanding lifeboat fundraiser or someone who rides for South West Blood Bikes?

You can’t. They are all winners, but after a long and sometimes lively debate, the judges opted for Paul Duchemin, who was nominated for his thousands of hours supporting the South West Blood Bikers (SWBB).

SWBB operate throughout Devon, supporting health care and providing the rapid movement of all sorts of medical necessities, mainly around the South West and has saved the NHS more than £400,000.

They have no paid staff and raise all their own funds, and their current running costs are in the region of £1000 per week, and that is where the volunteers come in,  volunteers like Paul.

Over the past year, Paul has volunteered his time to be on-call for Torbay Hospital more than any other volunteer within the charity’s South Team, responding to more than 300 urgent calls.

He delivered more than 700 items of medication, including whole blood and blood Products, pathology and microbiology samples, medical records, medical equipment, test kits and medications, including controlled drugs – anything that’s urgently required by a medical facility.

He also carried donor breast milk for prematurely born babies, and has probably saved many very young lives because donor breast milk increases the chance of survival by 50% over having to use formula milk.

Additionally, by delivering medication to patients’ homes, it allowed patients to return home earlier instead of having to wait for their medication to be ready from the hospital pharmacy, which in turn allowed the hospital to free up that patient’s bed.

According to his citation: “Paul joined the charity as an emergency volunteer rider in Oct 2021. Since then, he’s volunteered more than 5,000 hrs of his time to the cause.

“He’s highly thought of by the nursing staff at the 26 dispensing wards/units across the South West and always does it with a smile. He has undoubtedly saved lives by transporting urgent blood from Torbay Hospitals, the Blood Transfusion unit, the South Devon Dialysis Unit, and other hospitals in Devon.

“Riding in all weathers and temperatures in all seasons, Paul has made a big difference to NHS Patients, especially in Torbay.

“Paul has also dedicated an additional 2,000 hrs to fundraising for the charity at supermarkets, county shows, and in town centres, helping raise funds for the charity to provide the service to our NHS in Torbay, which is completely free of any charges.”

Until South West Blood Bikes was set up, hospitals used to use couriers and taxis to ferry the products around, and the bills were crippling, so much so that SWBB estimates that they have saved the NHS in Devon more than £800k over eight years.

Paul came onto the Community Champions Radio Show, which broadcasts on Torbay Radio (available on 107.9, on digital and via your smart speaker) between 9 – 11 am on most Tuesday mornings, along with his proud and supportive wife, Anne, to talk about his volunteering.

As with so many people who appear on the show, he does not volunteer for the praise or the thanks and was blown away that his efforts had been recognised.

He shared his passion for volunteering and his lifelong love of motorbikes – riding them, that is, in all weathers, literally come rain or shine. The almost constant rain over the last few months has, in his words, been ‘no fun’, but it is all worth it when he sees the smiles of relief on the faces of the medical staff he delivers to or their comments along the lines of ‘Thank you, you are a lifesaver.”

He also recounted his time raising the money to keep the bikes and, where necessary, cars on the road – there are five bikes and one car serving just Torbay – and his passion for his subject keeps the cash flowing.

If you want to contribute to South West Blood Bikers because you never know when you might need them  – swbb.charity/donations/