April 08, 2024
Whānau draw for blood donation
Veteran entertainer Pio Terei is encouraging Māori to take a more modern attitude to giving blood and saving lives.
Terei and his wife Deb started The Teina Trust after they lost their son Teina to leukaemia at 17 years old.
In its blood drives it aims to create a more relaxed and “Māori-style” setting for donors, including live music, kai and craft stalls at the event to create a whānau atmosphere.
He says Māori are high users of blood services but low donors – especially tāne – and for the sake of whānau that must change.
“If you look around at your wider whānau, you’ll find somebody who’s had an accident, or is being affected by cancer. And we’re in those hospitals, and the blood we’re getting quite often comes from somewhere else. But it works and saves lives,” Mr Terei says.
Pio Terei says decades of blood donations has shown no impact on donors – and donated blood can now be used to source bone marrow for cancer sufferers, avoiding the painful process of direct extraction from the bone.