BONUS: Why you need to think about donating blood

Sacha Barbour Gatt (0:08)

Hey, Sacha Barbour Gatt with you for this special branded episode of The Briefing. And we are teaming up with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood for a really important message. Lifeblood is urging all healthy Aussies to roll up their sleeves to donate blood. Plus, there's also a need for donations to meet the growing need for plasma treatments.

It is constant and ongoing that need. More than 75,000 blood and plasma treatments are needed to help save the lives of Australian children every year.

Lifeblood is urging anyone who is fit and well to book an appointment now, and anyone recovering from illness to donate as soon as they can. Only 3% of Aussies donate blood. We need more to step up. Now, here today to tell us why are two people. We're going to start with Hannah Raymond. She's the media and public relations manager for Lifeblood. Then you're going to hear an incredible real life story of a man who benefited from life-saving blood. But first, Hannah, thanks so much for joining us on The Briefing. Look, we hear all the time about the need for blood donors, but what are the instances that people actually need that donated blood?

Hannah Raymond (1:13)

So you'll see that we'll need blood in emergency situations like Krishan, which we'll hear a bit later today. So someone who might have been in an accident or an emergency, that blood is delivered straight to them in the room from hospital orders. Then you've got people who need it on an ongoing basis. So people like cancer patients who require blood or plasma or platelets for their treatment, women in childbirth, even people who are just going in for routine surgery, and then also people who have immune deficiencies who rely on certain medications made from plasma that keeps them going day to day.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (1:46)

If I've never donated before, what can I expect if I roll up to a Lifeblood Centre to donate?

Hannah Raymond (1:51)

Yeah, it's a really awesome experience. Some people might be a bit nervous, but we make sure that you feel really at ease. Our nurses are amazing. It's also much quicker than you think. You can donate blood during your lunch break. Basically, you come in, you chat to the nurses. We'll do a really quick health check. We check your blood pressure, your hemoglobin, make sure you're feeling healthy and well, and then you put into our donor chair, you'll feel nice and relaxed.

A blood donation takes about six minutes, so it's really, really fast.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:17)

That's really quick.

Hannah Raymond (2:18)

Yeah, it's really quick. A plasma donation is about 45 minutes because it's a bit more involved in that one. And then after that, you're taken to a refreshments area and you can enjoy a milkshake or a chocolate milk, a biscuit, a sausage roll, and then you're free to go. And you know that you've just left the donor center saving up to three lives.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:35)

Yeah, do you find out what happens to that blood? I've heard, I feel like stories where it's like, oh, your blood today helped a woman who just gave birth and needed extra blood.

Hannah Raymond (2:43)

Absolutely. I actually got my text message yesterday to say that my plasma had gone to someone, which is amazing. So yeah, you get a text message to say that your blood donation has gone to a certain hospital. So you know that someone has used that blood product basically straight away, which is amazing to see.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:56)

We hear a lot about the need for blood donors. I feel like there's almost a constant campaign from Lifeblood calling for it. But you told me before we hit record, there's as many as 10 million people that it's thought are eligible to donate blood but aren't. What's stopping people?

Hannah Raymond (3:11)

Yeah. So one in three people will need a blood donation in their lifetime, but only one in 30 of us actually donates. There's a lot of barriers to donating. There's a lot of myths and misconceptions. Some people mistakenly rule themselves out, thinking that they're not eligible, but they might be.

So you might be on medication, you might have traveled somewhere, you might have a tattoo or a piercing. But the good thing is that you can actually donate plasma in those cases, often straight away. There might be a very small wait time for whole blood, but it could be 24 hours to four days. So if you're worried that you're not eligible and you want to know if you can donate, you can hop online. There's an eligibility quiz to see. So that's great to determine. You might be able to save a life sooner than you think.