Plasma Donation

By Diana Williams
   A craze that seems to be gripping the nation these days is plasma donation. Many people that I know or have spoken to donate, or have donated. We even have a plasma donation center in our area, called BioLife Plasma Services, which is located in the Park Shopping Center in Vienna. Many people flock to this center to donate their plasma for a little extra cash, which is given in compensation for your time and plasma.
   Plasma is the pale yellow liquid in your blood that contains mostly water and proteins. It helps your body control bleeding and infections, and can be easily replaced by your body. Plasma also functions as an aid in circulating red and white blood cells and platelets. Plasma makes natural chemical communication between different parts of the body possible by carrying minerals, hormones and vitamins.
   Do you ever wonder what plasma is used for? It is manufactured into many different medicines and products. For example, it is used to treat serious disorders like hemophilia. Plasma is also used to help treat and prevent some very deadly and serious diseases such as tetanus, rabies, measles, rubella, and Hepatitis B. In addition, hospitals and ER rooms worldwide use plasma-derived albumin to treat major injuries like shock and severe burns. It was this very tidbit of information about the burn salve that made me want to donate. My mother was severely burned a few years ago and if it were not for people like myself who donate plasma, my mother may have not healed as well or even made it through her crisis.
   Something to remember about plasma is that it cannot be produced artificially in a laboratory, only obtained from healthy willing adults. To donate plasma, a person must be 18 years of age, in good overall health, and weigh at least 110 lbs.
   Each potential donor is required to go through a physical exam and have a full medical history recorded. Plasma centers do this to ensure that donating plasma would not be of any potential risk to the donor or recipient. On every visit thereafter, donors will have their weight and vital signs checked. A staff member will ask them several questions pertaining to their health since their last visit. Hematocrit (percent of blood volume occupied by red blood cells), iron, and plasma protein levels are also checked.
   You may wonder how safe all of this is. It is generally a very safe procedure with minimal or no side effects. Occasionally I have had a small bruise on the donation site, but the actual donation process is virtually painless. I was previously scared of needles so this was a big step for me. The staff at a plasma center sterilizes everything that comes into contact with a donor including the donor chairs, equipment, floors, etc. All tubing, needles, and other collection supplies are discarded carefully and replaced each and every time. Nothing is used twice to ensure safety.
   A prospective donor may donate up to twice in a seven-day period, with at least a 48-hour period in between donations. The money received for donating is put onto a debit card for spending, saving, or whatever the donor wishes to do with it. To me, the money is trivial to the big picture. Each time that I donate my plasma, someone somewhere is benefiting from it. Whether it is a little girl suffering from hemophilia or maybe someone else’s mother that was burned severely in an accident, it helps. It saves lives and that is what is important to me. Not a double cheeseburger or maybe a few gallons of gas. I am saving lives. I am making a small difference in this world and that means the world to me.