Nine to air Australian Red Cross Blood Service series Giving Life
Nine is set to air a fly-on-the-wall television series from the Australian Red Cross Blood Service – Giving Life.
The announcement:
Australian Red Cross Blood Service Gives Life to Channel 9
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is excited to announce the upcoming launch of Giving Life, a gripping new fly-on-the-wall television series for Channel 9, to inform and inspire a new generation of life-saving donors.
Premiering 16th November, Giving Life will take viewers on a heart-warming, heart-stopping and sometimes heart-breaking journey across eight 30-minute episodes to explore the real-life stories behind the generous people who donate, and the vulnerable strangers who receive their life-saving gifts.
One in three Australians will need blood in their lifetime yet only one in 30 donates. Every week the Blood Service needs 29,000 blood and plasma donations to meet the needs of Australian patients.
“For the very first time, we are opening the doors of our donor centres and processing centres across the nation, taking viewers into peoples’ homes and the hospitals where our recipients are treated. We are so proud to be showcasing the work we do and how every single life-saving donation from our generous donors impacts the lives of ordinary Australians.” says Shelly Park, Chief Executive of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.
The first episode of Giving Life will premiere on Nine on 16th November and will also be available to view on 9Now.
Giving Life will highlight the breadth of the organisation’s contribution to Australian healthcare, which now goes beyond providing one of the world’s safest and most secure blood supplies.
“We hope to draw attention to the vital role of our existing donors, as well as inform and inspire a new generation of donors to roll up their sleeves to give blood, or provide the mother of a premature baby with donor breastmilk or to sign up to be an organ donor,” Ms Park said.
“From a mum and her newborn daughter who required over fourteen units of blood to save their lives during delivery, to the surfer who narrowly escaped death after a brutal encounter with a tiger shark, the stories of survival are nothing short of incredible.”
“We’ll also entertain and inform audiences about the science behind the work we do, why each blood donation is broken down into plasma, platelets and red cells, as well as allowing you to follow the journey of blood from our donor floor to our processing centre and beyond.”
In the course of one year, the Blood Service collects more than 1.5 million blood and plasma donations, almost 3,000 litres of breast milk and carries out tissue typing on around 500 donors a year to provide a match for organ recipients.
Source: AC Agency media release
