Cash for Plasma

Utah State University students are no different from other college students when it comes to the need for extra cash.

To fulfill that need, some students have turned to the option of donating their blood plasma in exchange for compensation. Though donating plasma has become more and more popular, some students who donate know little about what plasma is used for.

Zac Darling, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering and previous donor was introduced to plasma donation by his cousin.

“He told me that it was a quick way to earn some extra cash for dates and gas,” he said. “Other than that I didn’t really understand the process or why they wanted it.”

Human blood consists of 55 percent plasma, 44 percent red blood cells and 1 percent white blood cells. Vlasta Hakes, public affairs director for Grifols, the company which owns the donation center in Logan, said plasma is a vital substance to combat rare and chronic disease.

“The plasma is where important sodium and proteins are stored in the blood,” Hakes said. “We use the donated plasma to purify those proteins and then convert them to medicine needed by patients throughout the world whose own plasma lacks those necessary proteins.”

Plasma is mostly made of water, which means the human body replenishes itself with the substance very quickly as compared to whole blood that takes much longer, due to the need of regenerating red blood cells. Hakes said this is a reason Grifols encourages donors to come back as often as they can.

“The plasma needed to generate enough medicine for one patient for a year is anywhere from 150 to 1,300 donations,” Hakes said. “That’s a main reason we encourage donors to come so often and offer compensation for their time”

The first time a person donates plasma, they can expect the process to take upwards of two hours due to the need for medical examination. After the first donation, donors are only expected to offer the time it takes to extract the plasma from the rest of the blood and to have the blood returned to the body, which takes roughly an hour and a half.

“In Logan about half of our donors are college students, which we like because they tend to have more time on their hands and are willing to take the time needed,” Hakes said. “We try to make it a good environment and offer the compensation so that we see them come back again and again.”

Most plasma donation centers hope all donors would understand the significance of what they are donating and what it means to those who benefit from donors’ time and consideration, he said.

“The people in the Logan community who come in really are saving lives,” Hakes said.

— clay.b.marsh@gmail.com