Covid 19 Omicron: Rotorua blood donor encourages people to give blood as Omicron affects blood services

Peter Breen started giving blood after his brother Mike suffered from kidney failure and has been a regular donor for 50 years.

Now he's encouraging people to give blood as donations dry up significantly in Rotorua due to the Omicron outbreak.

The New Zealand Blood Service has put out an "urgent call" for healthy eligible donors in the Bay of Plenty to book an appointment to donate.

Breen said, "You never know, one day it just might be you that needs it."

Peter Breen first donated blood when he joined the army in 1970. Photo / Andrew Warner

Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post, Breen recalled joining the army in 1970 and his brother suffering kidney failure soon after.

During treatment, his brother went through dialysis and had two kidney transplants.

"While they were doing the dialysis they just used massive amounts of blood so it sort of inspired me to get in and donate blood."

Mike died in 1971 yet Breen still donates every three months.

"Right through until today, I'm still a donor. I'd encourage people [to give blood] because it's a good thing to do for fellow Kiwis.

"It's a simple thing to do. It's pretty painless."

Peter Breen donates blood every three months. Photo / Andrew Warner

New Zealand Blood Service team leader for donor relations Steve Dalgety said Covid had affected blood donations "quite significantly" in Rotorua.

Donations were down between 30 and 35 per cent, he said.

People were either sick with Omicron or were self-isolating because their household or school were affected, he said.

New Zealand Blood Service accepted people who were vaccinated and unvaccinated against Covid but some venues required vaccine passes.

"That's probably compounded the issue as well and Rotorua is one of the places where the venue that we go to requires a vaccine pass."

Dalgety said the demand for blood from hospitals remained the same but there had been "a large reduction" in donors.

"If people are healthy and they can donate, then we really, really do want to see them because there's always people that require the product and we need to continue to supply that product at the hospitals."

In a media release this week, New Zealand Blood Service put out an "urgent call" for all healthy eligible donors in the Bay of Plenty region to book an appointment to donate.

Across the region, 700 donations were needed for the rest of March to meet demand.

But in the next three weeks, only 67 per cent of appointment slots were filled and the service was seeing an increasing number of no-shows.

New Zealand Blood Service national marketing and communications manager Asuka Burge said: "We need healthy, eligible donors in the Bay of Plenty region to book an appointment to donate to help us ensure we can continue to have enough supply to meet demand.

"We also need people who cannot attend a scheduled appointment to either reschedule or cancel the appointment, in order to free up slots for other people who can donate."

How to donate:

• To book an appointment, visit nzblood.co.nz, download the app, call 0800 448 325 or sign up to Facebook's blood donation tool to receive notifications about opportunities to donate blood near you.
• New donors are encouraged to find out if they are eligible at nzblood.co.nz and then book an appointment to donate.
• Donors are asked to book an appointment, rather than just turning up.
• Appointments help manage the social distancing and flow of people in donor centres and allow New Zealand Blood Service to forecast supply, ensuring it is collecting enough blood types and blood products.
- Source: NZ Blood Service