Comments on: Some Thoughts on Plasma Donation

By: DMB

DMB — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:03:32 +0000

I am a middle aged woman, who is in nursing school. I didn’t qualify for any financial aid, and I didn’t want to wipe out my savings account to pay my tuition. My monthly tuition payment to my school is $300. A friend of mine, who is a phlebotomist, suggested that I give my plasma twice a week, for which I would be compensated for my time, and in the end the plasma would be used to make life saving medicines and treatments for numerous illnesses and diseases.

I don’t look at this as selling myself for money. I truly look at this as a charitable thing to do (I am also a firm believer in whole blood donation for FREE). I sacrifice approximately four hours of my time each week (2 donations) to give my plasma. While sitting in the recliner chair giving my donation, I study or which I would be doing ANYWAY, and when they are finished I get compensated for my time. My plasma helps other people…and the $55 weekly adds up to $220 a month…that means I only have to come up with $80 out of my pocket for my tuition payment each month!

My husband was at first very concerned that I was doing this, as he was afraid of lethargy, anemia, etc…but I have had no problems at all. I was advised to eat a lot of eggs, peanut butter, and other high protein foods (50-80 grams daily is suggested). I also take a daily iron supplement. I regularly drink 8 bottles of water a day, which makes for a much easier and faster donation.

I donate with Biolife Plasma Services. Their centers are very nice and clean. They even have a supervised daycare there for people with children! I have never seen anyone that I would consider a “junkie”. Most of the people there are college students or people who are having a little trouble financially due to the economy. I never have a long wait time, because the center is has to go by strict guidelines and they techs are timed from the time you check in until the time you leave.

I go to the center every Tuesday and Friday morning. They draw my blood to check for iron and protein levels (all should be fine if you do what I stated above), and I give my donation. For my Tuesday donation, I receive $20, and for my Friday donation I receive $35, both on a debit card. To avoid any weekly surcharges to the card, as soon as I leave the center, I immediately go to an ATM machine and remove the money from my card…I then put it in my savings account until its time for me to make my monthly tuition payment. This works great for me…and my husband is fairly happy now with the fact that I’m still healthy…have energy afterwards…and he doesn’t have to work extra shifts to pay for my schooling!

By: Nickity Split

Nickity Split — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:33:13 +0000

Money got tight for me a few months ago so I took the advice of a few friends and decided to try plasma donation.

Two hours later I walked out of ZLB Plasma with $40 cash. The second visit actually only took slightly more than an hour and I received $45 cash.

After your first two visits your payments are reduced to $30 for the first visit in a 7-day period and $35 for the second visit in that period. Basically meaning in a 7-day period you will make $65 for donating something you’re not using, and in many cases, didn’t even know you had.

I am no longer in a financial bind, I’m actually doing very well, but I continue to donate plasma twice a week and make $260 a month, every month, doing it.

Instead of asking “why donate plasma?” ask “why not?” I make $260 extra dollars a month for sitting in a chair a couple hours a week while most of you are sitting on your couches for free.

And to those who say that donating plasma is “wrong” in some way, get over yourself…

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:25:59 +0000

I’ve been giving plasma at the ZLB site near my home twice a week every week for the last year. I have a simple notice written up from the physician on duty that I had to submit with my application to the RN nursing program I am hoping to get into because my arms, particularly my right arm, look like I’m a junkie because of the needle marks.

Besides that I have no problems. My son recieves plasma treatments from Children’s Medical for a disorder he has at least once a month. I’m glad to be helping. Sure the money, 25+40 every week, pays for a bit of daycare and that makes me happy.

By: Broke

Broke — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:32:07 +0000

I don’t understand how some from a certain political following can be against receiving money for donating their own plasma but have absolutlely no problem with “researchers” making money off fetal tissue or stem cells.

I’m not saying I’m against stem cell research or anything but I am sick of all the hypocrisy.

By: Tia

Tia — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:56:51 +0000

I just “donated” my plasma yesterday. The comp was $40, next will be $40, then $20, then $30, then $50, then alternating between $20 to $30. As a routine donor then it would be $50/week.

My experience was a little on the rough side to be honest. I went in the morning, and they were packed with new donors. I didn’t even get done with waiting, screening, and the physical for 5.5 hrs! The centers have been packed due to high unemployment and the holidays coming up. The funny thing is when you first sign up they are really strict about making sure you’ve recently eaten, but after 5.5 hrs even if you ate right before walking in the door you’re in trouble. I was slightly hungry walking into the donor room, but I figured I would be OK and all of the warning forms I signed were just overly dramatic. 85% of the way through donation I started seeing stars, felt neaousous and faint, had stomach cramps, and started a massive cold sweat. I’m not usually a sweater at all, but it was enough that I sweat through my jeans behind my knees. It probably only lasted 2 min or so. None of the employees were supervising the “donors”, so I was on my own. I didn’t want to call for help because I was almost completely done donating, and having been at the center for over 6 hrs I didn’t want to risk leaving empty-handed if they had to unhook me! Sounds pathetic I know, but having been laid off for the last few months I really need the money!

All in all, if someone wants to do it I would advise calling the center and asking about their new donor procedures (some centers only accept new donors at certain times and many people drove over an hr or took long bus rides only to be sent away). If they are crowded, it could easily be hours of waiting before you even learn if you are an eligible donor. You wait an hr or 2, then they check your ID. Then you wait an hr and then they check your veins (small veins were rejected). Then you wait an hour and get a screening for your vitals, blood protein and iron levels and are possibly rejected for that. Then you wait some more and have your mini-physical. Only if you pass all that are you taken to the donation room. I would have been very cranky to have been rejected after 5 hrs of waiting, thankfully I made it through. I am going back at least one more time to see how much faster the regualr donation process is to see if the money is worth all that hassle!

Also, EAT w/in 2-3 hrs. This may mean you need to bring something to eat during the wait. It would have made all the difference for me I am sure. I thought it was rather bizzare that they made sure I ate before coming in, and wrote that time on my chart, but then didn’t ask if I had eaten during the entire day I had been there waiting! Moral of the story, you have to look out for yourself.

I am a little nervous about next time because my plebo was awesome, but they had 4 or more newbies being trained while I was there. Hey, everyone has to learn sometime, I just don’t want them learning on me the next time I go in! Oh, and if you are a needly phobe, you definitely don’t want to do this. The needle is huge!!! Much bigger then regular blood donation needles since they return your blood to you when you donate plasma. If you sneak a peek at the needle, make sure you do it only AFTER they put it in, otherwise you might bolt from the door…

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:20:12 +0000

The way I see it, it’s MY plasma, and I’ll do what I please with it! What harm can it do? All I see is the GOOD it can do! And where I go, you receive $35.00 for your very first visit and as long as you come back within 7 days of your first visit, you receive another $50.00. That’s $85.00 EXTRA in your pocket for that first week! Then your next visits earn you extra $5, $10, $15 or $20 extra along with the normal fees of $20 & $40 per visit. There, you could earn up to $305.00 during your first month and after that up to $255.00 per month. Hey, that’s my car payment or my groceries for a month! Tax Free! Desperate times call for desperate measures…..

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:10:11 +0000

The way I see it, it’s MY plasma, and I’ll do what I please with it! What harm can it do? All I see id the GOOD it can do! And where I go, you receive $35.00 for your very first visit and as long as you come back within 7 days of your first visit, you receive another $50.00. That’s $85.00 EXTRA in your pocket for that first week! Then your next visits earn you extra $5, $10, $15 or $20 extra along with the normal fees of $20 & $40 per visit. There, you could earn up to $305.00 during your first month and after that up to $255.00 per month. Hey, that’s my car payment or my groceries for a month! Tax Free! Desperate times call for desperate measures…..

By: Willeum

Willeum — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:02:57 +0000

Wow. I read about half of all this. Wow. I am pretty poor right now, between jobs and delaying debt payments, and was considering selling my plasma, at least to keep my bank account positive. Something about it felt morally wrong though. I read the info at the JW sites, at a site that condones the Red Cross, at this site, at some site in India, and others. For now, I think I’ll just stay poor, or find some other means of making money. Giving blood seems like a nice thing to do. I have done it before. Selling plasma seems disrespectful in some way. I am really not sure why. Stupid gut feelings! Although I’m mad at my guts, I’m certainly not going against them. In the past, doing such has proven to be detrimental. Oh well. I guess in the end the worse that could happen is bad credit.

By: Broke

Broke — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:16:50 +0000

Anyone know how bad your bruise can be and still give?

I just started selling my “time” 2 weeks ago (3 donations to date) and received a bruise twice, the last one being bad, as they pump the red blood back into my arm but it did not make it into the vein.

I don’t want to go in and get turned away because I heard that after a few deferrals you get banned for life.

My local center has the stupid bonus program so if you miss for bruising or whatever you loose a lot of money. They claim on their website you can make up to $305/month but the math just doesn’t add up.

I am layed off and need the extra money to make my mortgage payment so I want to maximize my earnings.

By: Lanzera

Lanzera — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:02:04 +0000

Good points made here…I just wanted to add that getting folks involved with donating plasma at a young age really helps ‘train’ folks to donate blood for free when they are older…there is no substitute for human blood and so it is something that everyone must contribute.

For more info on the process and to find a local center checkout: http://bloodbanker.com

By: MMR

MMR — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:14:25 +0000

Oh, I forgot to mention, countries that do not pay for plasma donations do not have a lot of donors…most of the plasma use for medications around the world comes from the USA. There is a major need for plasma medications, not only in the USA but in the world. As a plasma donor you are not only helping the people of your community or your country…also the people in many other countries.
Go to the website of the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) or the Immunodeficiency Foundation (IDF) so you learn who really plasma donors are saving… T-H-A-N-K Y-O-U!!!!!

By: MMR

MMR — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:04:55 +0000

There is some serious confusion here! First, Blood Banks DO make money out of blood donations…just ask anyone who needed blood if their insurance was not charged for it. Granted, I am not saying that this is wrong, but don’t be fooled. Anybody who receives blood transfussion, has to pay for it. There is equipment, testing, ect that the blood bank has to pay for AND research that they do as well. Plasma companies do use all their plasma to treat patients…it is not just the burn victims but the patients with hemophilia, immunodeficiencies and other rare diseases. To make one vial of treatment, they need at least 6 or 7 people to donate!!! I had no idea…I am a patient and now that I am older I am learning about where my medications are coming from. The plasma company does not decide how often you can donate, the FDA does. The blood bank has to tell you to donate once every 2 months because you are loosing red blood cells and it would be too dangerous. In plasma donation, you do not loose the cells and can donate twice a week. Blood donation takes about 30 minutes, plasma donation takes about an hour. Who would take that much time for no money? Also the screening for a new plasma donor can take up to 3 hours…so thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who are plasma donors and are making my life possible. For those of you who used to donate, but don’t need the money anymore, please go back and donate for the noble cause of helping people like me. One plasma donation can help a minimum of 4 or 5 patients. I believe that there is a lot to learn. If you want to help a person donate blood, if you want to help even more people donate plasma. Thank you Lou (see above) to explain about blood banks and plasma centers — they both are doing a great job to help people.

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:43:54 +0000

Donating blood through the Red Cross takes the red blood ceells for use. A plasma donation takes the clear fluid, which is seperated from the red blood cells. You get your red cells back, and the clear plasma is replenished by your body quickly ,and can be drawn 2 times a week. If you happen to have a problem at the time of donation and lose the red cells (power outage at the center, ect) it is considered a blood loss, and you must wait 6 weeks to donate, so your body replaces the red cells lost.Red cells and plasma are different! Due to the high volume of plasma donors,most phlebotomists have done more sticks than most nurses.

By: Lou

Lou — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:02:17 +0000

Having worked for 8 years in the for-profit plasma industry and 3 years in the non-profit blood industry, I would like to set the record straight on a few items. I have a degree, worked my way through college in the plasma center, and have held high-level management positions in both industries, including my current position. Therefore, I feel qualified to make the following comments:
1. Phlebotomists, who draw your blood or plasma, are generally high school graduates who receive on the job training in phlebotomy (”sticking”, if you will). This applies to community blood centers, the ARC, and plasma centers. Very seldom are these people nurses – with the exception of the state of California where phlebotomy at plasma centers and certain donations at blood centers must be performed by licensed nurses, as required by state law.
2. The ARC collects blood in many locations and manages its inventory on a national basis. That means your donation is shipped to a blood warehouse from where it is distributed to any hospital having a contract with ARC and requesting the specific blood component that was processed from your donation. On the other hand, community based blood centers collect blood from residents of the communities in which they operate or in which they supply blood to hospitals. These centers are committed to meeting the blood needs of the local community first, but will export to other areas in times of crisis or when the community needs have been met and there is an excess inventory.
3. All plasma centers use Universal Precautions, single use needles, disposable kits, gloves, proper hand washing techniques, etc. Plasma centers are very heavily regulated by the FDA, same as blood centers, and have a set of voluntary standards that they meet to participate in the Quality Plasma Program or QPP, which is administered by the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA). These standards help to ensure high quality plasma is collected and thereby ensure that the product manufactured from this plasma are high quality. While these standards are voluntary, a plasma center will be hard pressed to find a buyer if they are not QPP certified.
4. In a plasma center, you will not be sitting next to a “junkie” looking for his next fix. You very well may be sitting next to someone who does not have a job, or works day labor and seems a little on the rough side, but rest assured, any plasma center that knowingly accepted plasma from a “junkie” would not be a plasma center very long.
5. When you donate blood to the ARC or your local blood center, your blood is separated into components almost immediately after your donation. As a previous poster stated, the different components are used to treat different illnesses or injuries. One of the components of your whole blood donation is the plasma. The plasma from some units of blood does not meet the requirements to be labeled as Fresh Frozen Plasma and transfused directly to patients in need of plasma. If it is not destined to become FFP, the plasma from your blood donation will be labeled as recovered plasma, which is then used for the same purposes as the plasma collected by the for profit plasma center.
6. While there is some medical research done on the plasma you “sell” as well as the recovered plasma (see above); the majority of it is manufactured into therapies that treat diseases such as immune deficiencies and hemophilia and is used to treat medical conditions such as shock, trauma and burns.
7. The policies in plasma and blood centers in regards to homosexuals donating are identical. This is not because the companies are discriminatory; it is because the guidelines for donor suitability are established by the Food and Drug Administration.
8. Plasma centers are equipped to handle medical emergencies, as they are required to have licensed medical professionals on staff and present in the building during the donation process. This is an FDA requirement and is generally fulfilled with people licensed as RN, LPN, LVN, EMT, or Paramedic.
9. I have yet to see a plasma center that can complete the screening process in 5 minutes. They are thorough in obtaining medical history, and perform some basic blood tests as a qualifier (as described by a previous poster). The screening process does become a little quicker for the “regular” donors because they are accustomed to the system and do not need the physical exam required of first time donors.

I think that’s enough for now. I’ll try to check back to see if there are any other questions I can answer.

If you are interested in the facts instead of some of the myths that have been posted here by others, I urge you to check out the following websites:
http://www.pptaglobal.org
http://www.aabb.org
http://www.americasblood.org

And if you’re up for some not so light reading, try this one:
http://www.fda.gov/cber/blood.htm

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:28:56 +0000

Suzanne, if that was the case, people who have donated plasma for decades would be long dead or very ill. If you can’t find anything about this in the medical literature, then it is seriously bogus. The information being “suppressed” is nonsense. It would not be able to be suppressed!

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:42:23 +0000

For about 10 years I donated plasma to a lab owned by a large drug company in Southern California. The reason I donated plasma to this particular lab (and paid for each donation) was that my plasma donations were used primarily to make the RhoGam Serum.

For those of you who are not aware of what the RhoGam Serum is – it is used when an RH-negative woman conceives an RH-positive baby. When it is administered during the pregnancy it prevents the mother from developing the RH disease and the baby from getting very sick and possibly dieing before being born, or being born with some complications.

If I remember correctly this serum became available around 1967. And at that time I believe there were approximately 15% of pregnancies affected by this particular condition. But the serum was too late for me as I had become sensitized during my pregnancy in 1963 and lost 2 babies because of this RH problem in 1967 and 1968, so I feel I have a right to speak out on this subject. And with the 1967 pregnancy I also nearly lost my life – it was that serious.

Before this serum became available, some babies were stillborn with virtually no red blood cells and through medical research it was discovered that the RH factor was the cause and through more research the RhoGam Serum was created which resulted in preventing these stillbirths.

Now, are all these facts absolutely correct today? I don’t know, have not researched it, but what I state here is to the best of my recollection.

I can’t tell you how it warms my heart when I talk to other women and have occasion to find out that they received the RhoGam Serum while pregnant and delivered a healthy baby or babies. That is the real pay off for me. They won’t wake up after delivery and be told that their baby did not survive.

The plasma was not only used to make the RhoGam Serum but also to do other research for other medical conditions.

Blood money? Not for me – life saving donations, just as whole blood donations are.

By: Lynoure Braakman

Lynoure Braakman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:02:13 +0000

Here in Finland there is no payment for donating plasma or blood, but sometimes you get swag for it.

@Suzanne: Do you remember what the micro-component is called? I’d like to try to find more information about this.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:56:32 +0000

I donated plasma fairly regularly in college in the late 70’s. Then in Physical Therapy school, one impressive lecturer mentioned a very important micro-component of the plasma is not replaceable ever. When my daughter was in college, she wanted to donate it as well so I searched the net for more information but couldn’t find any. I was able to convince her not to donate it, since all the plasma is extracted from the blood, it doesn’t take many donations to lose most of this component. If anyone else has more info on this, I would love to hear it. This info is probably suppressed since it would affect people’s willingness to even donate blood only.

By: Lynne

Lynne — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:51:34 +0000

I guess I’m a bit disappointed in those who feel it is unethical for the big drug makers to use or profit from their own donation. Because you don’t know what their experiments may be, or where for sure your plasma may be headed, think again. My husband died of cancer at the end of last year. Like my mother, who died of ovarian cancer, he needed a number of transfusions when his blood counts fell way too far after chemo. Had someone not donated they each would have died far sooner than they did. During their survival time, much was learned about each of their cancers, which should benefit others in the future. As to the drug manufacturers–if it weren’t for them, my mother & my husband would have each have likely passed away 2 or more years sooner, because the effects of certain drugs (ie: chemo) would have been unknown. So you all need to remember that the next person who benefits from a blood or plasma donation could very well be you or a member of your family.

By: Griffin

Griffin — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:24:09 +0000

I donated plasma for a few months out of need, but they wound up helping me more than just money-wise. When you go in for the first time, they test you for HIV, Hep A/B/C, clotting and Rh factor. I came in without any disease, but at a restaurant I wound up being exposed to Hep B — which my body fought off since I had been vaccinated already. They let me know that my body had fought it off successfully (since they test everything) and asked if I would like to donate plasma specifically for the creation of the
Hepatitis B Vaccine.

Had I not been donating plasma I never would have known that I had been exposed at all. And the plasma I donated could save someone else from it as well, so I had no issue with it. I wound up stopping because I developed a fear of needles.

The people who take your blood are phlebotomists — all they do is take blood, but that doesn’t mean that they are as good as a nurse with years of experience. A lot of phlebotomists are nursing students as well, so I would keep that in mind.

I would like to say something against donating for the Red Cross. I wound up on a list for an “Indefinite Ban” from giving blood for Red Cross agencies — it will actually come up if I try to donate blood. I’m AB+, so they need my blood BADLY. I’m 100% drug and disease-free, but since the Red Cross still uses their old outdated rules that means that people in need lose out.

So what happened? My ex is transgendered, which means she’s male — and because I’m male as well, that means the Red Cross considers us “unfit” to donate blood. It makes no sense to me, but they still consider anyone GLBT to be high-risk. They tend to ignore the fact that straight people get it as well. They also ban prostitutes, but not the people who sleep with them.

So yeah, reasonably I am a great candidate for blood donation but if I’m honest about it I can only donate with a few small centers and not the Red Cross.