At Greenview, we are proud of our employees who give back to the community and we support them to do so in any way they can.
Jonny McCambley, Greenview’s Associate Director – Air Conditioning and Refrigeration donates platelets once every four weeks at the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service Headquarters.
Here he explains what platelets are, how they are used, and what it means to be a donor:
“Blood is made up of several components one of which is platelets. Platelets are a type of blood cell that help blood to clot and stop bleeding. Each donation provides enough platelets to treat one, two, or even three patients.
Most platelet donations, around 70%, help patients who are undergoing cancer treatment, predominantly leukaemia. The remaining donations help patients as follows, 17% helps people who’ve had surgery, 8% helps people with other medical conditions, 5% goes to adults in intensive care, and 1% helps babies going through intensive treatment. To prevent patients suffering from serious bleeding, lost platelets must be replaced, so platelets given by generous donors are often lifesaving. They are in great demand as they can only be stored for up to 7 days and therefore stocks need to be constantly replenished.
Platelet donations are slightly more complex than normal blood donations. The process begins with blood being taken from your arm in the same way as a regular whole blood donation. A relatively small volume of your blood then passes through a machine which then collects platelets and some plasma. Your blood is then returned to you using the same arm. The machine repeats this cycle until enough platelets have been collected. The whole procedure takes around two hours and is undertaken at the NIBTS Headquarters facility in Belfast. The platelets taken are replenished within your body within 48 hours.
My experience with donating platelets has been personally very rewarding. It is a great feeling to know that you are doing something to help people who are in need. It does not cost me anything other than giving up two hours of my time every four weeks. The facility at the NIBTS HQ is fantastic, you can hook up to the Wi-Fi, read a book, watch TV, or just chill out for two hours while your donation takes place.”
For more information on donating platelets visit: https://nibts.hscni.net/donating-platelets/
