Lifeblood of the nation

In 15 months, NZ endured a terrorist attack, volcanic eruption and pandemic, with the unwavering support of blood donors. Hannah Martin reports.

As the wailing of sirens and screams rang out through the air in Christchurch in March 2019, blood banks across the country steeled themselves.

During the hours that followed New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting, blood and blood products from throughout the country were flown to help survivors of the attack – a response only possible through the donations of altruistic New Zealanders.

Every 18 minutes someone needs blood or plasma. There is no substitute if the shelves are bare. Blood donors save lives.

June 14 marks World Blood Donor Day and the New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS) is celebrating the 110,000 Kiwis whose annual donations support people in challenging times.

From his office at the New Zealand Blood Service centre in Auckland, Justin Scott, director of planning and supply, is responsible for making sure blood is in the right place at the right time. Every day, his team looks at where blood is being used and what blood groups are in demand, informing whether they collect more or less, or where they need to distribute supplies. It is a plate-spinning exercise.

They think long-term about what they need to collect, and what’s happening with the use of a particular blood group or blood product – even down to the needs of individual patients, Scott says.

Blood can be broken into four components. Red blood cells carry oxygen through the body and are used during surgery or to treat people with anaemia. Platelets are used to treat patients with severe bleeding or leukaemia. Lasting for seven days, platelets must be constantly ‘‘rocked’’ in a machine to prevent them deteriorating.

White blood cells help defend the body from disease. They are sometimes given to bone marrow transplants and newborn babies suffering severe infections. These cells have the shortest shelf-life of all: 24-hours.

Plasma carries water, proteins and blood cells. It is used to treat burns victims, people who’ve lost a lot of blood, kidney patients and those undergoing chemotherapy. Frozen, plasma lasts two years.

At the heart of the Auckland donor centre, donated blood sits in a quarantine fridge until it is tested for diseases such as HIV, syphilis and hepatitis. Once cleared, it is moved to a reserve room, where bags hang in neat little rows, ready for the call.

Like goods in a supermarket, blood stocks closest to expiry sit at the front of the shelf. As they near expiration, supplies are moved around the country to busier hospitals to minimise waste.

In bright red chillybin bags, blood can be shipped by urgent courier (for short distances) or via plane to more far-flung places. Platelets can be out of storage for only six hours, so cannot be driven. In emergencies, supplies are choppered where they are needed, sometimes by police or rescue helicopters.

‘‘We can be there very quickly,’’ Scott says.

This was tested on March 15, when a gunman opened fire in two Christchurch mosques, killing 51 people and injuring 49.

Scott recalls ‘‘everything happening very quickly’’ that Friday afternoon. Within 30 minutes they had blood supplies out of the Christchurch donor centre doors, sending vans and courier vehicles across Hagley Park to the busy hospital five minutes away.

‘‘The first few hours were just frantic . . . [trying to] keep up with what was happening in the surgical wards.’’

The Christchurch blood bank saw more activity that afternoon than it would in weeks.

An emergency operations centre was set up as Scott’s team started looking at what could be done nationally. ‘‘We knew people’s injuries were such that they would require a lot of blood and blood products in a very short period of time.’’

Over 48 hours, blood supplies were flown in from banks in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington. In Hamilton handfuls of people were called in to donate platelets to backfill national stocks, while blood from Nelson was sent to the Christchurch blood bank to replenish what they’d used of their own supply.

‘We always have an ongoing use [for blood] for a whole range of things which affect Kiwis on a day-by-day basis.’’ Justin Scott