On-call for life support

Editorial and photography: Danielle Ford

When a police car drives by with lights flashing and sirens blaring, it’s not always on its way to a crime scene, accident or major incident.

For members of Victoria Police’s Transport Support Unit (TSU), activating the lights and sirens often means they have life-saving cargo onboard.

The unit provides an urgent transport service to DonateLife, getting donor organs and blood products to wherever in the state they are needed — to people like Aaron Alsop, who received a life-saving and life-changing kidney transplant late last year.

Born with a genetic kidney disease, Mr Alsop had been on dialysis for a year as his kidney health slowly deteriorated into failure, and he was eventually placed on the transplant list.

It was 2am in December 2022 when he got the call that a donor kidney was on its way to Melbourne, and he had to get to the hospital for surgery.

“After getting the call, it was all systems go and, by 6am, I was checked and prepped for surgery,” Mr Alsop said.

“I was told afterwards that the kidney had been transported from interstate and I was blown away by how it was timed to get from one part of the country to another in time for my surgery.”

Former police officer Rob Clemmens knows how important the timing of the organ donation process is — however from the other end of the process.

Just hours after his wife Katie was tragically struck by a car, and knowing she wasn’t going to make it, Mr Clemmens made the difficult decision to donate her organs.

“As a nurse, Katie spent her life helping people so I knew she would want to continue doing that after her death,” Mr Clemmens said.

“It was a decision we had to make within a couple of hours of her passing to ensure the organs and tissue remained viable.”

In cases where donor organs are flown in from other states, on-the-ground transport is needed to get them from the airport to the hospital and, when the transplant is time critical and needs an urgent, lights-and-sirens convoy, the TSU is called upon for help.

On occasions where they are required, TSU members meet the plane on the tarmac to receive the organ before transporting it to the major hospital where the transplant surgery is being performed.

They also assist with the transport of urgent blood samples from regional hospitals to Melbourne for compatibility testing.

Transport Support Unit Acting Sergeant Marty Challis said it’s a job that the team was extremely honoured to do.

“In 2022, we did more than 30 jobs for DonateLife and it’s amazing to think that’s 30 lives we have played a small part in saving,” A/Sgt Challis said.

The team has a dedicated marked police vehicle for the service but when they can’t assist for any reason, local police are called upon to help with the transport.

“If the TSU is not able to provide a response we can call upon a local highway patrol to perform the transport,” A/Sgt Challis said.

Western Health donation nurse Meaghan Bruns said the transport service provided by the TSU, and other Victoria Police members, was invaluable to the organ recipients and hospital staff.

“Whenever we call them to assist, they are always so willing to do whatever is needed and go above and beyond to make the transport process seamless,” Ms Bruns said.

“It’s such an important part of the process that ensures we are able to get life-saving organs to recipients in the most efficient way.”