Gill South gets altruistic and donates, not her blood (mad cow issue), but her time to a very good cause.
I arrive promptly at the NZ Blood Service Donor Centre at 71 Great South Rd in Epsom at 8am, ready for my briefing as a new volunteer. I'm to be put under the wing of June who has been volunteering every Wednesday for five years.
Our job is to
look after the donors post-donation, giving them something to drink and eat before they go on their way.
This donor centre is lovely, it's a nice modern building just near Dilworth, and there's a cheerful feel about the place, lots of highly competent nurses and doctors bustling around.
The NZ Blood Service make these places a wonderful experience for donors because the hope is that they will return. With only 4 per cent of the New Zealand population donating blood, you certainly need them to. You give blood only four times a year, I learn.
Donors get to lie back in lovely, comfy chairs while they give blood. I would happily be a donor but can't because I lived in Britain in the 1990s. Good old mad cow disease comes back and bites me.
Marketing manager, Paul Hayes, tells me there is a push for plasma donations at the moment, with growing numbers of people suffering from auto-immune diseases.
Meanwhile, I watch June in action. In her 60s, a mother and grandmother, she's very gentle with the donors: "Can I get you something to drink, love?" she asks as they come over to the comfy sofas to sit for a few minutes and nibble a biscuit or two.
By the way, the biscuits seem to have got better - some good choccie ones there.
I am dying to ask the donors why they are doing this selfless task. Do they have a history of ill health in their family perhaps?
I'm told around 42,000 Kiwis need blood. Many are cancer patients, new mums, babes and accident victims.
June says she never asks the donors what their motivation is, she doesn't want to intrude (unlike rude me) but people will sometimes share their stories with her.
I have a good chat with a lawyer who volunteers her reasons. Anne (not her real name) is young, in her 30s, and she is donating plasma for the first time.
Anne says there is a feel-good factor to donating blood. It's easy to do, positively relaxing and everyone is so pleased to see you. And that's an unusual feeling for a lawyer, she says, taking the words right out of my mouth.
I take my volunteer duties seriously, checking on other plasma donors to see if they'd like a juice the minute they are all set up.
I'm ultra keen - I come across like an over-zealous waitress on her first night. There's a dad giving blood while his little girl sits on his lap. So cute. June says she looks after the children sometimes who come in with their parents.
I've picked a quiet day. There are not many shuttles coming in from companies this morning but what a great idea for companies to send van loads of donors.
I surge off at 11, feeling like I've helped a few people and at least not detracted from the image of the NZ Blood Service today.
But I'll never be as good as June. She's the real thing.
World Blood Donor Day
World Blood Donor Day, an international event supported by the World Health Organisation, is on Tuesday, June 14. It both thanks volunteer blood donors for their life-saving contribution, and reminds us of New Zealand's constant need for more donors.
Each year, around 42,000 Kiwis need donated blood to help save their life - that's around 3000 donations every week - yet only around 4 per cent of us are active donors. One blood donation can help save three lives. Help "save the day" for fellow Kiwis in need by saving a day to donate blood. Just choose one day in the coming year - maybe your birthday, an anniversary or other memorable day - and commit to making a donation.
Click here or phone 0800 GIVE BLOOD for eligibility information and to register to donate.
Next week:
I am still looking for a good sweaty workout at least once a week, and as I like a good boogie, I'm thinking Zumba could be the thing for me. I am going to a nice crowded class where no one will notice me shaking my booty.
