November 17, 2024 • 15 mins
Donating blood or plasma can be a real way to make a difference in other people's lives, but the thought of donating can be overwhelming if you've not done it before.
That's why this week Toni is chatting with transfusion medicine specialist Dr Richard Charlewood from NZ Blood about everything you'd want to know before donating. From who can donate and when, to what your blood and plasma is used for.
This episode is brought to you by NZ Blood
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We need to talk conversations on wellness with COASTFMS Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hello and welcome to we need to talk. When was
the last time you did something that could genuinely save
someone else's life? Have a think about that now, because
donating blood or plasma is a surefire way to tangibly
help other people and New Zealand Blood really needs our
help before the summer holidays. Every time you donate blood
(00:26):
you can potentially save three lives. To see if you're
eligible to be a donor, you can take the eligibility
quiz at enzblood dot co dot nz. And today we
have doctor Richard Charliwood to talk us through how it
all works and why it could end up favorably impacting
your life. Now, obviously, doctor Charliwood, there are lots of
reasons people do this selflessly because they want to make
(00:47):
a difference in New Zealand. But it actually can be
quite an enjoyable experience, right.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh, absolutely, it's quite something to donate to somebody else. Well,
if you think walking down the street and you see
somebody and you decide you're going to begging for money,
you decide to give them a little a little money,
you do feel a little good about that yourself. And
in the same way, giving blood helps you feel a
(01:14):
little bit better about yourself knowing that you're doing something
for somebody who really needs your help, who without blood
donors is either going to die or have a terribly
miserable existence. And that's what giving blood's about. But it's
more than that. It's just actually, it's a nice place
(01:35):
to be. It's the nurses are generally good fun you know,
there's a good mood to the whole place because everybody
is there to help somebody else, to help the people
who need their blood. So it's got a really good
buzz to it the place.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
How does the process work? How long will people be there?
How easy is it to get the whole process done?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh, that's pretty easy. So you can phone and make
an appointment. You can book online. It is best to
make an appointment. We do accept some walkings, particularly if
you're donating whole blood. That's a much quicker process, so
we'll be able to fit you in much more easily.
But if you're donating plasm or platelets, it is wise
(02:24):
to book ahead. So once you've done that, you come in.
We check who you are, so we do need to
see photographic id because, believe it or not, we've actually
had people pretending to be somebody else when they donate,
which is just just weird, but it's happened. It's happened,
and we need to know who you are when you
(02:48):
donate in case maybe one of the tests comes up positive.
That's rare, but you know, it happens, or if there's
some problem with the patient and we need to get
in touch in touch with you again as a donor,
so we do need to know who you are, So yeah,
bring a photographic idea along. Then there's a form to
(03:10):
fill out, answer all the questions, chat the nurse. The
worst part is the fingerprick hemid lobin test, which is
just a little jab in your finger just to make
sure that you've got enough of the red stuff. And
then it's onto the comfy bed, fully adjustable, get yourself comfy,
(03:31):
and they pop a needle into the vein in the
arm and out comes the blood. And now this is
where it does start differing. If you're donating the whole blood,
the red stuff. Then that's over in about five maybe
ten minutes, and then you have a cup of coffee,
(03:51):
some tea, whatever, some biscuits and snacks, and then you're
on your way. If you're donating plasma, taste a little
bit longer, it's about minutes, and that's variable because the
amount of plasma they take off is dependent on your
height and weight, so it's a proportion of your personal
(04:13):
plasma that we're taking.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
For the most part, what is plasma.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Plasma is the clear yellow fluid that everything floats around in.
So your red cells, your platelets, your white cells all
float around in this clear liquid. It's mostly water, and
then it's got some proteins in it. The commonest protein
is albumen, same stuff you used to make a pavlova
(04:37):
there essay, which we do use. We use albumen medically,
and then there's also plotting factors, antibody concentrate or antibodies,
which we use, and then various other proteins in much
smaller quantities that we don't have a medical use for.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So what are you most in need of? Is it
the plasma or whole blood?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Well, we're in need of both. So fortunately the whole
blood donors, we're able to keep up with the hospital's needs.
So we're doing really well there and I know we
do talk a lot about plasma, particularly at the moment.
I do want to stress that we still value our
(05:20):
red cell and platelet donors. It's just that they're doing
such a fantastic job that we were self sufficient on that.
Where we short is plasma, and we're a fair bit
short there. We're only getting about seventy five percent of
the plasma that we need to support the hospitals. And
(05:42):
the product that we specifically are short of is the
antibody concentrates.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
What is this plasma used for.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
We use it for albumin, which is used for burns
resuscitation people in ICU plasma exchanges. We use for clotting
factors for people who are on blood thinners like water,
and we use it for people who've got some hereditary
(06:10):
bleeding conditions like for Vilbrunt's disease. But the biggest demand
is the antibody concentrates, and that is for people who
are either don't have enough antibodies because they've got an
inherited problem with making them, or they've had a treatments
(06:31):
before that mean that they're not able to make antibodies anymore.
So that's the one group who don't have enough antibodies
and then the other group is people who have antibodies
who are attacking themselves with the auto conditions exactly. And
one of our biggest groups there is people with neurological
(06:52):
diseases where the auto antibodies are attacking their nerves or
their brain with really devastating and illitating results.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You're listening to. We need a talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
In terms of the eligibility to donate place in whole blood.
What type of people wouldn't be able to donate.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Our age limits are sixteen to seventy five. If you're
over seventy five and you are already donating, we can
extend that for another five years. People who can't donate
commnest things would be a heart disease. So if you
if you've had a heart attack, if you've had angina,
(07:36):
clearly giving blood might be dangerous to you. As a donor.
We get people who want to donate who have cardiac problems,
often quite challenging because we realize that they are they
keen to donate. We just don't want them having a
heart attack on the donor.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Flaw exactly, And it's kind of like who's making the
call here?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yes, here, So that's one group. People have had cancer
in the last five years, so cancer is not a
permanent thing anymore. So if you've been clear for cancer
for five years, you're good. And there are a lot
of short to lot of short term conditions. So we've
got a bile about the stick of the various rules
(08:20):
and you can see some of those online at our website.
Common ones are tattoos are three months, for example. A
lot of people think that's permanent, but it's not.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Just three months.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Intravenous drugs is a permanent one. But some people think
smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol would prevent them donating, but
that's not the case. So it's really most people are
eligible to donate.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It not really discriminatory at all. It's good to know
where are we with the mad cow disease restrictions. What's
the latest on that.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
So mad cow disease restriction has been lifted, had lifted
earlier this year, so I was very pleased. That allowed
me to start donating again. So the only restriction that
still hangs over from that is if you've been transfused
in the United Kingdom since nineteen eighty so we're working
through that. But fortunately that doesn't affect very many people
(09:14):
at all.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Oh, that's good to hear too. The sense of urgency
around donating before the summer holidays is that brought on
by that plasma figure of only having seventy five percent
of what's required.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So it's partly that we do want people to donate
so we can help those patients. Problem over the holiday
season is twofold. One is you know, people go away
and they're not going to be donating while they're away,
So that's sad for our plasma needs, but it's also
(09:49):
a problem for our fresh components. So if you need
blood over January, for example, the blood needs to be
in the bank already, and so you know if you
have if we've run the bank down because nobody's been
coming in to donate, then we've got a problem. So
(10:09):
there's always a bit of a push just before leading
up to Christmas, and then we make sure that there's
enough blood in the bank to support patients over that
time until people get back from holidays.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Are you able to give me some numbers on amounts,
numbers of donors that you might need.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
We collect about one hundred thousand plasma donations a year
and that comes from about seventeen and a half thousand
plasma donors, so each donor's donating, call it roughly six
times a year. And can I just put in a
quick plug there that when you donate plasma, you're getting
all your red cells back, so it's much less demanding
(10:51):
on your iron stores if you donate in plasma compared
to red cells. That's why we have this long gap
between whole blood donations, is to allow your body to
build up its iron stores.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Again, how long is jacket?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
That's eighty four days for whole blood. For plasma, it's
only two weeks. Okay, people would love it'd like to
come in every two weeks. We're absolutely not going to
stop them. And we have people who come in every
two weeks and that is fantastic. And actually for those
people that get to know the nurses, the nurses get
(11:27):
to know them and it becomes a whole sort of
social thing. It is actually w Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
But just getting back to those numbers, so if we
had another five thousand donors start donating, we would then
be self sufficient again, we wouldn't be short of plasma,
and at the moment we have to import plasma from
the US and Europe, and that is a problem for
(11:55):
US a couple of levels. The biggest problem for US
is that the demand for antibody concentrates is going up worldwide.
Everywhere is experiencing this. We're a relatively conservative user of
antibody concentrates. Across the ditch. Australia is a very liberal user.
(12:16):
So their blood service I think, only manages about half
of their plasma needs if that. So, we know that
America and Europe are supporting the rest of the world,
but there's a limit to what their population can actually do.
So there's going to come a point where they've saturated
(12:37):
that capacity and then it's going to be a question
of okay, who gets the plasma. And we know from
COVID when plasma donations dropped in the US, the US
came out with a very clear message to the world
that it's an America first policy, and because we're a
small country with a pretty small contract, because we're more
(13:02):
self sufficient than most countries, we'd probably be one of
the first to be dropped.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah. Absolutely, it's a scary thought, isn't it. What about
it is age group wise, So is there a particular
age group that you're targeting with this drive. Is there
an age group that could lift up these socks a
wee bit and hand start helping.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It's a difficult one. It is quite a commitment to
come in and donate regularly, and young people are often
a lot more mobile, so it is more difficult for
younger people to get into blood donor centers on a
regular basis. But we really would like them too. We
(13:44):
would really like people to develop a lifelong habit of
blood donation. The majority of our donors would probably be
in their thirties and onwards. We would love anybody. Any
age group. Yeah, any age group, we don't mind.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah. If there was sort of one last message that
you'd want to say to people needing that obviously that
five thousand people to kind of put their hand up
and say, yep, I'm going to take this on.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
What would that be, give a bit of go come
in and try it. I know people are scared of needles,
or they think they're going to be turned away, or
you may not be turned away, you know. We try
not to turn people away after we've gone through their
health issues. We actually have a number of donors who
are scared of needles, but still donate. Sure, it's not
(14:36):
the most pleasant thing having a needle stuck into you,
but you know, as a donor myself, it's far outweighed
by the rest of the experience, far outweighed, and it
is actually a really nice thing to do. I look
forward to donating, as do. Lots of people come and
join us.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, doctor Richard Charlie. I'll
give that website again, indeed, blood dot co dot inzed
that has all the information there and it also has
the eligibility quiz if you want to do that before
you go and check out your local blood clinic. Thank
you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It's a pleasure. Thank you, it's been lovely.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
We need to talk with COASTFMS Tony Street. If you
enjoyed the podcast, click to share with family or friends.
To get in touch email we need to talk at
Coast online dot co dot inzed.
We need to talk conversations on wellness with COASTFMS Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hello and welcome to we need to talk. When was
the last time you did something that could genuinely save
someone else's life? Have a think about that now, because
donating blood or plasma is a surefire way to tangibly
help other people and New Zealand Blood really needs our
help before the summer holidays. Every time you donate blood
(00:26):
you can potentially save three lives. To see if you're
eligible to be a donor, you can take the eligibility
quiz at enzblood dot co dot nz. And today we
have doctor Richard Charliwood to talk us through how it
all works and why it could end up favorably impacting
your life. Now, obviously, doctor Charliwood, there are lots of
reasons people do this selflessly because they want to make
(00:47):
a difference in New Zealand. But it actually can be
quite an enjoyable experience, right.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh, absolutely, it's quite something to donate to somebody else. Well,
if you think walking down the street and you see
somebody and you decide you're going to begging for money,
you decide to give them a little a little money,
you do feel a little good about that yourself. And
in the same way, giving blood helps you feel a
(01:14):
little bit better about yourself knowing that you're doing something
for somebody who really needs your help, who without blood
donors is either going to die or have a terribly
miserable existence. And that's what giving blood's about. But it's
more than that. It's just actually, it's a nice place
(01:35):
to be. It's the nurses are generally good fun you know,
there's a good mood to the whole place because everybody
is there to help somebody else, to help the people
who need their blood. So it's got a really good
buzz to it the place.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
How does the process work? How long will people be there?
How easy is it to get the whole process done?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh, that's pretty easy. So you can phone and make
an appointment. You can book online. It is best to
make an appointment. We do accept some walkings, particularly if
you're donating whole blood. That's a much quicker process, so
we'll be able to fit you in much more easily.
But if you're donating plasm or platelets, it is wise
(02:24):
to book ahead. So once you've done that, you come in.
We check who you are, so we do need to
see photographic id because, believe it or not, we've actually
had people pretending to be somebody else when they donate,
which is just just weird, but it's happened. It's happened,
and we need to know who you are when you
(02:48):
donate in case maybe one of the tests comes up positive.
That's rare, but you know, it happens, or if there's
some problem with the patient and we need to get
in touch in touch with you again as a donor,
so we do need to know who you are, So yeah,
bring a photographic idea along. Then there's a form to
(03:10):
fill out, answer all the questions, chat the nurse. The
worst part is the fingerprick hemid lobin test, which is
just a little jab in your finger just to make
sure that you've got enough of the red stuff. And
then it's onto the comfy bed, fully adjustable, get yourself comfy,
(03:31):
and they pop a needle into the vein in the
arm and out comes the blood. And now this is
where it does start differing. If you're donating the whole blood,
the red stuff. Then that's over in about five maybe
ten minutes, and then you have a cup of coffee,
(03:51):
some tea, whatever, some biscuits and snacks, and then you're
on your way. If you're donating plasma, taste a little
bit longer, it's about minutes, and that's variable because the
amount of plasma they take off is dependent on your
height and weight, so it's a proportion of your personal
(04:13):
plasma that we're taking.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
For the most part, what is plasma.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Plasma is the clear yellow fluid that everything floats around in.
So your red cells, your platelets, your white cells all
float around in this clear liquid. It's mostly water, and
then it's got some proteins in it. The commonest protein
is albumen, same stuff you used to make a pavlova
(04:37):
there essay, which we do use. We use albumen medically,
and then there's also plotting factors, antibody concentrate or antibodies,
which we use, and then various other proteins in much
smaller quantities that we don't have a medical use for.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So what are you most in need of? Is it
the plasma or whole blood?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Well, we're in need of both. So fortunately the whole
blood donors, we're able to keep up with the hospital's needs.
So we're doing really well there and I know we
do talk a lot about plasma, particularly at the moment.
I do want to stress that we still value our
(05:20):
red cell and platelet donors. It's just that they're doing
such a fantastic job that we were self sufficient on that.
Where we short is plasma, and we're a fair bit
short there. We're only getting about seventy five percent of
the plasma that we need to support the hospitals. And
(05:42):
the product that we specifically are short of is the
antibody concentrates.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
What is this plasma used for.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
We use it for albumin, which is used for burns
resuscitation people in ICU plasma exchanges. We use for clotting
factors for people who are on blood thinners like water,
and we use it for people who've got some hereditary
(06:10):
bleeding conditions like for Vilbrunt's disease. But the biggest demand
is the antibody concentrates, and that is for people who
are either don't have enough antibodies because they've got an
inherited problem with making them, or they've had a treatments
(06:31):
before that mean that they're not able to make antibodies anymore.
So that's the one group who don't have enough antibodies
and then the other group is people who have antibodies
who are attacking themselves with the auto conditions exactly. And
one of our biggest groups there is people with neurological
(06:52):
diseases where the auto antibodies are attacking their nerves or
their brain with really devastating and illitating results.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You're listening to. We need a talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
In terms of the eligibility to donate place in whole blood.
What type of people wouldn't be able to donate.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Our age limits are sixteen to seventy five. If you're
over seventy five and you are already donating, we can
extend that for another five years. People who can't donate
commnest things would be a heart disease. So if you
if you've had a heart attack, if you've had angina,
(07:36):
clearly giving blood might be dangerous to you. As a donor.
We get people who want to donate who have cardiac problems,
often quite challenging because we realize that they are they
keen to donate. We just don't want them having a
heart attack on the donor.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Flaw exactly, And it's kind of like who's making the
call here?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yes, here, So that's one group. People have had cancer
in the last five years, so cancer is not a
permanent thing anymore. So if you've been clear for cancer
for five years, you're good. And there are a lot
of short to lot of short term conditions. So we've
got a bile about the stick of the various rules
(08:20):
and you can see some of those online at our website.
Common ones are tattoos are three months, for example. A
lot of people think that's permanent, but it's not.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Just three months.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Intravenous drugs is a permanent one. But some people think
smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol would prevent them donating, but
that's not the case. So it's really most people are
eligible to donate.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It not really discriminatory at all. It's good to know
where are we with the mad cow disease restrictions. What's
the latest on that.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
So mad cow disease restriction has been lifted, had lifted
earlier this year, so I was very pleased. That allowed
me to start donating again. So the only restriction that
still hangs over from that is if you've been transfused
in the United Kingdom since nineteen eighty so we're working
through that. But fortunately that doesn't affect very many people
(09:14):
at all.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Oh, that's good to hear too. The sense of urgency
around donating before the summer holidays is that brought on
by that plasma figure of only having seventy five percent
of what's required.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So it's partly that we do want people to donate
so we can help those patients. Problem over the holiday
season is twofold. One is you know, people go away
and they're not going to be donating while they're away,
So that's sad for our plasma needs, but it's also
(09:49):
a problem for our fresh components. So if you need
blood over January, for example, the blood needs to be
in the bank already, and so you know if you
have if we've run the bank down because nobody's been
coming in to donate, then we've got a problem. So
(10:09):
there's always a bit of a push just before leading
up to Christmas, and then we make sure that there's
enough blood in the bank to support patients over that
time until people get back from holidays.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Are you able to give me some numbers on amounts,
numbers of donors that you might need.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
We collect about one hundred thousand plasma donations a year
and that comes from about seventeen and a half thousand
plasma donors, so each donor's donating, call it roughly six
times a year. And can I just put in a
quick plug there that when you donate plasma, you're getting
all your red cells back, so it's much less demanding
(10:51):
on your iron stores if you donate in plasma compared
to red cells. That's why we have this long gap
between whole blood donations, is to allow your body to
build up its iron stores.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Again, how long is jacket?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
That's eighty four days for whole blood. For plasma, it's
only two weeks. Okay, people would love it'd like to
come in every two weeks. We're absolutely not going to
stop them. And we have people who come in every
two weeks and that is fantastic. And actually for those
people that get to know the nurses, the nurses get
(11:27):
to know them and it becomes a whole sort of
social thing. It is actually w Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
But just getting back to those numbers, so if we
had another five thousand donors start donating, we would then
be self sufficient again, we wouldn't be short of plasma,
and at the moment we have to import plasma from
the US and Europe, and that is a problem for
(11:55):
US a couple of levels. The biggest problem for US
is that the demand for antibody concentrates is going up worldwide.
Everywhere is experiencing this. We're a relatively conservative user of
antibody concentrates. Across the ditch. Australia is a very liberal user.
(12:16):
So their blood service I think, only manages about half
of their plasma needs if that. So, we know that
America and Europe are supporting the rest of the world,
but there's a limit to what their population can actually do.
So there's going to come a point where they've saturated
(12:37):
that capacity and then it's going to be a question
of okay, who gets the plasma. And we know from
COVID when plasma donations dropped in the US, the US
came out with a very clear message to the world
that it's an America first policy, and because we're a
small country with a pretty small contract, because we're more
(13:02):
self sufficient than most countries, we'd probably be one of
the first to be dropped.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah. Absolutely, it's a scary thought, isn't it. What about
it is age group wise, So is there a particular
age group that you're targeting with this drive. Is there
an age group that could lift up these socks a
wee bit and hand start helping.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It's a difficult one. It is quite a commitment to
come in and donate regularly, and young people are often
a lot more mobile, so it is more difficult for
younger people to get into blood donor centers on a
regular basis. But we really would like them too. We
(13:44):
would really like people to develop a lifelong habit of
blood donation. The majority of our donors would probably be
in their thirties and onwards. We would love anybody. Any
age group. Yeah, any age group, we don't mind.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah. If there was sort of one last message that
you'd want to say to people needing that obviously that
five thousand people to kind of put their hand up
and say, yep, I'm going to take this on.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
What would that be, give a bit of go come
in and try it. I know people are scared of needles,
or they think they're going to be turned away, or
you may not be turned away, you know. We try
not to turn people away after we've gone through their
health issues. We actually have a number of donors who
are scared of needles, but still donate. Sure, it's not
(14:36):
the most pleasant thing having a needle stuck into you,
but you know, as a donor myself, it's far outweighed
by the rest of the experience, far outweighed, and it
is actually a really nice thing to do. I look
forward to donating, as do. Lots of people come and
join us.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, doctor Richard Charlie. I'll
give that website again, indeed, blood dot co dot inzed
that has all the information there and it also has
the eligibility quiz if you want to do that before
you go and check out your local blood clinic. Thank
you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It's a pleasure. Thank you, it's been lovely.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
We need to talk with COASTFMS Tony Street. If you
enjoyed the podcast, click to share with family or friends.
To get in touch email we need to talk at
Coast online dot co dot inzed.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.