Call for more Rotorua blood

LIFE SAVERS: Amanda Brodie (centre front) with her crew of nurses enjoy helping people. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

We all need blood to survive.

Some of us don't make enough of our own and for others a freak accident can cause huge blood loss - in those times people who give up some of theirs are helping to save a life.

Amanda Brodie has been a registered nurse for more than 20-years and she loves her work with Blood NZ because it saves lives.

"I work for the blood service. Waikato has the biggest area to cover, we go right over to Gisborne. We all take turns going out in the mobile and staying in the Hamilton rooms.

"We go up the Coromandel, we go down to New Plymouth, Te Hara, Stratford and Taupo and everything in between."

Earlier this week she was with the mobile team in Rotorua taking donations, they got just under a hundred units over two days.

"Rotorua is really good, we have good donors here all the time, we have regulars come down every time.

"We come down once a month, next time will be the 20th and 21st of September.

"We always need blood, we especially need the plasma part of the blood.

"Your blood is made up of red cells and white cells, your plasma is used to sort out antibodies. They make up a lot of products, from plasma, for people who have low immunity that they use in the hospital.

"They also use it for a lot of surgeries, so red blood cells only last up to 35 days when they are frozen but plasma can be frozen for 2 years.

"We are always needing people to donate so we have enough supply."

She said people could go onto the Blood NZ website and see where the mobiles were and see when they were coming around to their areas.

How to donate: Visit the NZ Blood Service website for more information.