Western junior Bridget O’Shea studied abroad during spring quarter and found herself back in Bellingham for summer quarter jobless and broke. She took time-intensive classes and was having a hard time finding a job that matched her school schedule.

After hearing someone in her class mention plasma donation, she decided to look into it.

“I was desperate for money, so I decided to go into it cold turkey, knowing nothing,” O’Shea said. “It ended up being a surprisingly easy way to earn spare cash for food and gas.”

BioLife Plasma Services is a company in Bellingham that pays to collect plasma, which is then processed into life-saving therapies and treatments, said Bart Miller, center manager for BioLife.

Plasma is the yellow liquid portion of whole blood that a person's body can easily replace, he said.

“Many people are unfamiliar with the idea of donating plasma,” Miller said. “It’s still very new to most people and they have previous notions about it that stops them from donating.”

Plasma needs to be donated because it can't be reproduced, Miller said. Some of the proteins can be reproduced, but not all of them.

“For BioLife, the main goal is quick, efficient customer service,” Miller said. “The volume of donations has increased and the time of the donor is valued, so wait times, the actual donation, and our filing system is being improved to speed up the process. Currently, most people are out in less than an hour and a half.”

Over the summer, the company expanded and hired 14 new employees, added 18 beds and remodeled the building to help decrease time donors spent inside, Miller said.

A lot of the expansion was due to Western and Whatcom Community College students, who together make up 25 percent of the business, he said.

“I started donating because I don’t have time for a normal job, but I have time to do this,” said Western senior Lauren Rafanelli, who also found her school schedule too full to hold a job. “The process is fast and works very well. I donate twice a week and I don't mind it.”

Staying hydrated and healthy are the only requirements for donors, Miller said. First-time donors are required to get a physical, where they are asked questions and examined to make sure they’re healthy and their medical history checks out according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.

Once they’re qualified, donors begin the process that everyone goes through every time they donate, Miller said.
Before each donation, the person’s weight, blood pressure and temperature is taken, along with a finger blood sample to check protein and hematocrit levels. Hematocrit is the percentage of blood volume occupied by red blood cells.

“The parameters that donors must pass are set by the FDA and are even further regulated by BioLife for the donor’s safety and health,” Miller said. “It’s simple: If you don’t have enough protein in your blood that day, you can’t donate because we aren’t going to take out the protein if your body needs it.”

Once donors pass the examination, they are set up in a room full of bed-like chairs that have machines on either side of them, Miller said. They are situated and assisted by a phlebotomist who administers the process.

The needle used is larger than a typical needle used to give blood because unlike blood donation, once the plasma is removed, the blood is put back into the body, Miller said.

The machine used to separate the plasma is a sealed system that has many sterility tests for safety purposes, Miller said. After the whole blood is removed it goes into a filter that spins and removes the plasma, which drips into a separate bag.

The red and white blood cells and platelets removed go into a reservoir where they are mixed with an anticoagulant and put back into the body. Then the cycle starts again.

“The number of cycles a person has to sit through depends on your weight,” O’Shea said. “I’m pretty small, so I took less time than my boyfriend, who is a lot bigger than me.”

After the designated amount of plasma is collected, according to the donor’s weight, the cycles stop and mark the beginning of many donors’ least favorite part, the three-minute administration of the saline solution, Miller said.

The saline solution is designed to replace the volume of plasma taken, Miller said.  It contains sodium chloride and other vitamins to help the blood start replacing  lost plasma, he said.

“The saline solution was the most annoying part for me,” O’Shea said. “The solution is room temperature, so it’s around 20 degrees cooler than your body temperature. It’s a very bizarre feeling because it’s cold and it can make you cold, but it’s not very long, so I could handle it.”

Once the donation is complete, the bag of plasma is sealed off and taken to a freezer for five to six hours to freeze into its final state where it can stay usable for up to ten years, Miller said.

The plasma is further tested for hepatitis, syphilis and other diseases before it’s shipped off.

The process comes with a reward in the form of money for a person's time and plasma, Miller said.

Every time someone donates, $20, or more if there is a special, is put on the card. Donors can earn up to $200 or more a month if they donate regularly.

The money is not given in cash, but on a BioLife debit card that works like a regular debit card.

There are ways to earn extra money as well, said Western junior Jennifer Keller, who donates regularly. For example, if a donor refers someone to the center, they get an extra $10 for every person referred who begins donating.

“I don’t actually like the process of it, but I recommend it to anyone because it’s pretty easy,” Keller said. “If you stay healthy, then you can make easy money and you are helping people.”

The donated plasma is used for the treatment of serious disorders such as hemophilia and immune system deficiencies, Miller said. It is also used to treat people suffering from shock and burns, he said.

“I am very passionate about expanding the knowledge about donating plasma,” Miller said. “We are a vastly expanding business that is gaining momentum. I encourage everyone to donate because there is a lot of hope in this business.”

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