North Shore Hospital used 5000 units of red blood cells in the past year, along with hundreds of units of other products, such as platelets, plasma and plasma-derived products, in life saving and life preserving procedures that range from cancer treatments, to operations and emergency trauma situations. All that blood is donated. Demand fluctuates – and red blood cells only have a shelf life of 35 days, so constant replenishment is vital; nationwide, the country needs around 27,000 donors each year. Christine Young talks to two donors who have each clocked up an impressive number of donations, and finds the process is both straightforward and rewarding.
Finn Grigor is more aware than most of us of the need for blood donations. He is a nurse in public healthcare, and has been registered with NZBlood (New Zealand Blood Service) for a decade. “I work in the operating rooms, and I've seen many accidents and traumatic surgeries where life-saving measures are required. Surgically we can do so much, but without blood products available it would be for nothing. I donate because I know it's essential for helping our population and country Seeing [blood] used to save a life, knowing there are family, friends, kids, waiting to see our patient on the other side is a huge motivator to donate and that there are always blood products available.”
A secondary motivator: his dad also donates, “and I'm determined to keep up with his number of donations; he's well over 200 so I still have a way to go!” Finn donates plasma rather than whole blood, and has given 129 plasma donations.
Finn explains that donating whole blood is generally a shorter procedure. In a blood donation all the cells (red, white, and platelets), and the fluid (plasma) is taken. “These cells can only be donated every three months,” he explains, to allow the body to replenish them. “Plasma is a longer procedure, sometimes between 30 and 60 minutes. Plasma is the ‘liquid gold’ flowing through us. It's primarily water, but filled with the electrolytes, nutrients, and proteins that keep our body running and balanced. When plasma is donated, the whole blood is taken in smaller quantities, centrifuged to separate the plasma from blood, and the red blood cells and platelets are returned to your body. Since smaller quantities are taken and returned, there are a number of cycles required to extract enough plasma to help others. It also requires a bit more set up compared to whole blood…. Plasma is easier for the body to replace though, and allows for donations every two weeks.”
Finn donates plasma due to his blood type. “I'm AB+ [AB positive], which is quite an uncommon blood type (around 3% of the population). Only certain blood types can be safely donated to other blood types. With blood donations, O negative is a universal donor, able to give their blood to everyone with very low risk of reaction. With plasma donations, AB+ is the universal donor, able to give their plasma and blood products to everyone. Since I'm AB+, and being able to donate every two weeks, it seemed the most logical way to help the most people.”
“For me, the donations take around one hour,” says Finn. ”The first 10 minutes or so are interview and setting up the machine to take the plasma, and then 40 minutes for donation, and a small time at the end where the dressing is applied and I finish my snacks!”
Finn believes that New Zealand has a “fantastic process to make sure we have some of the safest blood products worldwide. There are some requirements, such as height, weight, having a stable haemoglobin level, and not having blood illnesses that may be infectious or cause abnormal clotting. You can walk in to an NZBlood centre (or go to the website), ask, and you'll get a questionnaire for eligibility about donating blood.”
Donating is voluntary and unpaid. “I think if we were paid to donate, it would take away from one of the quintessential values I hold about Aotearoa…. We donate because we care, not just about ourselves, but for those who need help. If money was offered, more people may donate, but that would mean the money has to come from somewhere too.” That said, NZBlood offers rewards for reaching milestones. Finn has earned an umbrella, a backpack, sports bag, beanie, socks, and a limited edition print. “Even without these rewards I would donate, but they really do give an incentive!”
But above all, he says, “We as individuals donate for the betterment of the country and the individuals within it. It's a selfless act that only takes a small amount of time and can save lives. I've donated with my partner, my sister, my dad, some of my coworkers. Going together can make it more enjoyable [while] doing something that helps everyone. To those who have never donated or haven't in a while, take a book, take a friend, listen to a podcast, take half an hour to an hour out of your day, and make a difference to someone needing it. Feel better knowing you can make others feel better too. If you can donate, do it for those who can't.”
Peter Fraher is another long serving North Shore blood donor – sufficiently long serving that he’s vague about when he first donated, but says it was perhaps in the late 1960s. He displays the tally of 109 donations on his NZBlood app, that updates every time he donates, and alerts him when he's due to donate again.
Channel Magazine recently talked to Peter as managing director of Abilities. Clearly Peter’s commitment to community goes beyond the work he does with people with disabilities. As far as Peter is concerned it was and is simply a matter of his being healthy enough, and “a good community thing to do, if you can”.
Peter says that one of the benefits as he heads into his late seventies is, if nothing else, the quarterly prompt to have his health checked. Once you’re a senior, there’s a regular process of checking blood pressure, iron levels and filling out a general health questionnaire. A while ago, when his iron levels dropped, he had to stop donating for a while. Once they recovered, he resumed his regular donations. It’s just part of what he does, though he’s currently on a mission to change the rule that there is an age limit (looming in a couple of years for him) for donors. The ability to donate should, he believes, be based on your state of health. Not age.
Peter can’t imagine why anyone healthy enough wouldn’t donate. Just think if you needed blood urgently, he says. It’s only 40-45 minutes, “sometimes quicker”, once every three months at the most.
Peter is an advocate for donating as part of a group, as Finn often does, and applauds Lewis Catterall, donor relations coordinator for NZBlood on Lake Road in Takapuna for an initiative that aims to give people “a bit of a nudge” to begin (or continue) donating. ‘Team Red’ is designed to encourage regular donors, like Peter, to get a team together and donate blood as a group. Peter has set up the ‘Reluctants’, enlisting a small group of new donors to enjoy the camaraderie of donating together, and the post-donation tea and biscuits. He’d like to double the number in his group, noting that increasing the group by even one member increases the number of donations by four times each year. He exhorts others to set up their own workplace or social groups to emulate his efforts.
As Peter points out, if you need a blood transfusion, through accident or illness, artificial blood is not an option; it must be the real thing. In donating blood, you’re helping someone who needs it, and feeling good about contributing to community at the same time.
