Lanthorn.com

Students donate plasma, save lives

By Jessica Levine
10/15/2008

Sorry ladies, but hot vampires will not be drawing your blood.

BioLife Plasma Services, located in Walker, Mich., collects and processes plasma to be used in life-saving, plasma-based therapies -- minus the fangs.

It can also be a way to earn extra cash, since BioLife pays eligible donors up to $305 a month. With the downturn of the economy rocking even the steadiest institutions, the company has given Grand Valley State University students a job opportunity when other businesses are experiencing cutbacks.

Giving blood also saves lives, said Patricia Matthews, of GVSU's biology department.

"Plasma is not in a short supply, since we all have about 10 units of it in our bodies," she said. "But it can be used to give better volume to someone who does not have enough volume or who needs any of the suspended materials."

Legally, because plasma is a water solution and not a function of an organ system, it can be sold.

"Payment encourages people to contribute, which helps to keep the volume of plasma in the health care system," she added.

For new donors, the entire plasma donation process, which includes an intake and physical exam, takes about two hours. Repeat donors can expect to spend approximately an hour and a half in the center, with the average process taking about 45 minutes.

But plasma donations extend beyond monetary compensation.

Nationwide, almost three million liters of plasma are collected every year through BioLife facilities, providing essential treatments for a variety of blood-related diseases and disorders.

The typical BioLife donor is young, and although specific percentages for the Walker location are not available, up to 60 percent are college students.

Donors have varying reasons for giving, including the self-fulfillment of knowing they are helping others and the opportunity to earn extra money, as well as the social aspects of donating.

And GVSU students are eager to do their part, evidenced by the numbers who currently contribute.

GVSU sophomore Betsy Hoisington is no exception.

"I chose to donate because it is a quick way to get cash," she said.

Unlike other substances, plasma cannot be artificially produced or simulated in a laboratory environment. It can only be obtained from healthy adults; and it is this most fundamental of contributions that literally saves lives every day of every year.

BioLife's Web site offers several examples of patients who have benefitted from the donations. One patient, who wishes to remain anonymous, suffers from Common Variable Immune Deficiency Disease.

"In my case, the treatment for (my disease) is gamma globulin infusions every 14 days," he wrote in a letter posted on the Web site. "Without this drug I would be sick all the time. My life is much better now that I receive infusions. I'm able to do whatever I want to do."

For more information, visit the BioLife Web site at http://www.biolifeplasma.com.

jlevine@lanthorn.com

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