The LifeBlood Trust
The pooled resources of the Florence Petersen Leukaemia Trust and the SAM Trust enable the LifeBlood Trust to provide a greater range of support to Wellington haematology patients not funded by the hospital, government, or other providers.
Since it was formed the Florence Petersen Leukaemia Trust has made grants to:
- support the Malaghan Institute to employ a Clinical Registrar for their Car-T Cell research that will benefit patients with limited options,
-provide additional nursing support for haematology patients at Wellington Hospital
- summer research internships at the Wellington Department of Otago University
- fund an additional clinical nurse position in the Haematology Department at Wellington Hospital
- nursing training
- equipment at Wellington Hospital including infusion pumps
Since its establishment, the SAM Trust has funded:
- extra facilities such as computers, televisions, refrigerators etc for patients who rarely get to move outside the hospital environment,
- extra facilities for staff in their brief moments of relaxation,
- more comfort for families including better seating, refreshments, and entertainment to make visiting hours more tolerable, and
- training and continuing education costs incurred by nursing staff and junior doctors attending training courses or undertaking research to keep them fully updated on the latest cancer treatment and caring techniques.
Together the LifeBlood Trust continues to support haematology patients in the Wellington region by funding clinical staff working on the Malaghan Institute’s Car-T Cell research, summer research internships, nursing training, equipment at CCDHB’s Wellington Hospital, and specific patient needs such as TV cards, coffees with newly diagnosed patients, and Rapid Antigen Tests.
We continue to be a source of funding for patients in the Wellington area as well as other blood cancer initiatives including Myeloma New Zealand and CLL Advocates New Zealand in the delivery of their blood cancer patient support services.