With deadlines rapidly approaching, it’s time to start working on final papers and midterm papers that were due a month ago. Working 40 hours and volunteering 20 hours per week is finally starting to get stressful, but students can’t let it show because in four days, the Christmas season will be in full swing and nobody likes a Scrooge. To top it off, gifts need to be purchased but that’s easier said than done when there’s a stack of unpaid bills stashed away.
Many SCSU students who need money but don’t have a lot of time choose plasmapheresis, or plasma donation, as an alternative additional means of income.
Since 1996, BioLife Plasma Services has been providing SCSU students with an opportunity to earn some extra money and help save lives.
BioLife Center Manager, Dan Phelps, said that 60 percent of the 1,400 donations BioLife receives every week are from SCSU students.
Plasma is the clear, yellowish fluid portion of blood that transports water and nutrients to all the cells in the body. It is composed of about 90 percent water containing sodium chloride and other electrolytes and between 6-9 percent protein. Through a natural metabolic process, aided by a healthy diet, the body generates salt water and proteins. Whole blood is a mixture of 55 percent plasma and 45 percent red blood cells.
A donor must be between 18 and 59-years-old, weigh at least 110 pounds and have good physical health. Donors must also be able to present a valid driver’s license or SCSU I.D. and social security card.
The first step for a new donor is to make an appointment. Appointments may be made by phone or online. Before the actual donation process, the new donor is required to undergo a physical examination that takes 60-90 minutes and is administered at the BioLife Center. The donation process will follow. The entire process can take 2-3 hours. Every visit thereafter will take 60-90 minutes.
The donation process itself consists of a series of health questions, a small blood sample drawn from a finger tip and plasmapheresis.
The plasmapheresis procedure is done in one continuous process similar to blood donation. Blood is first removed from a vain in the donor’s arm. It is then transferred via a small tube to a machine that removes the plasma through a filtration process called centrifugation. The blood is then returned to the donor along with a saline solution that replenishes the missing fluids. Within two hours of the procedure, a donor’s plasma level is back to normal.
The procedure is usually pain free.
Jon Lundberg, an SCSU plasma donor, said he doesn’t think it hurts, but has heard people say it does once in a while.
“It feels like your arm is getting pinched not like you’re getting stuck with a needle,” he said.
Lisa Thielen, BioLife training administrator, said there are no health risks involved because donors only lose fluids which contain water and proteins.
“The most that anybody is ever out is equivalent to two glasses of water,” she said.
Donors receive $20 for their first visit and $30 if they return for a second visit in the same week along with a $10 return bonus for a sum of $60 for the first week. Every donation thereafter pays $20 for the first time and $30 the second time each week.
It is possible for a donor to receive up to $200 every month, but donors are not obligated to donate a minimum amount of times.
A $5 bonus is also rewarded to donors who refer new donors to BioLife. BioLife also holds monthly prize drawings for its donors that have included televisions.
Besides monetary benefits, there are other reasons people donate plasma.
Products of plasma are utilized in different immunizations for health problems such as hepatitis B, rabies, tetanus and chicken pox.
Recently, The Royal Perth hospital in Australia treated more than 50 burn victims, who survived the bombing in Bali, with products created from plasma donated at BioLife centers throughout the United States.
Phelps said BioLife is always willing to give tours of the donation center for people who are interested in donating.
Additional information may be obtained by calling BioLife at 259-6300 or online at www.biolifeplasma.com.
