Increased need for plasma

The demand for plasma rises every year so we're trying to encourage more people to switch over to donating plasma instead of whole blood. The reason that the demand for plasma increases every year is that it is used to treat a growing number of life-threatening conditions and is part of a regular treatment plan for many patients. 

You can have a mixed donation group or, if everyone in your team is eligible to donate plasma, you could become a plasma-only group - Team Gold, if you like!

Plasma (a.k.a. Liquid Gold) is used to treat people who have lost a lot of blood from accidents or other trauma and people who have severe bleeding during surgery. It's also used to create up to 12 lifesaving blood products which help to:

• boost the immune system of people who have low levels of antibodies
• control some autoimmune disorders where the patient’s own immune system is attacking their own tissues
• provide special clotting factor concentrates for some people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders.

Plasma can only be given at donor centres and does require some additional eligibililty criteria to be met but you can check your eligibility here. To find out more about donating plasma as part of Team Red, please speak to your Team Captain or Team Red Recruiter at NZBS.