Need a Little "Fun Money"? Donate Plasmaby Traci Anderson | More from this Blogger 28 Apr 2007 06:06 PM Perhaps I should start by clarifying. I am not talking about your plasma television. I am talking about your blood. Okay, technically the yellow liquid part of your blood that suspends blood cells. I used to sell my plasma back in college. At the time, I sold my plasma for purely selfish reasons - pizza, beer and text books. If you live in a town near a college, the chances are probably pretty good that you have a plasma donation center near you. The process is actually quite simple (if you are not squeamish about needles, that is). You start with a brief physical including a health history questionnaire, blood work, and a general health screening. If you pass the physical, you will be able to give your first donation. If you've ever donated blood, the process is quite similar. The amount you donate per session is dependent upon your weight. When my husband and I donated plasma in college, I was typically in and out within an hour, while it took him nearly two hours. It also speeds up the process if you drink plenty of fluids ahead of time. Despite the large needle in my arm, I rather enjoyed the donation process. It was one of the few times that I could lay back and read, jot down my "to-do" lists, or just think for awhile. Our local center also provides free childcare during the donation process. Quite honestly, I am anxious for a one hour break from my preschoolers too. While your compensation is dependent upon the center in your area, it seems that most centers pay anywhere between twenty and thirty-five dollars per session. Personally, I earned about $25.00 for one hour of my time. Not bad, huh? This Monday I am headed back to the plasma center to start donating again. This time, my reasons are slightly less selfish. While I am no longer needing beer money, pizza money or money for text books, I would like a little extra "fun-money". It seems like whenever we have a little extra cash in my pocket, I am buying toys for the kids, groceries, clothing, or other essentials. I consider my plasma money to be quite literally blood money and therefore it belongs to me and me alone! While I am obviously excited about my "fun-money", I am also excited about how my donation will be used. Plasma is used to create life saving medicines for burn victims, transplant patients, and hemophiliacs. In fact, my best friend's son had a horrific allergic reaction to a medication he was using and his skin was quite literally burned. He used a tremendous amount of plasma in the healing process. Could you use a little "fun-money"? Wouldn't it feel great to know that your plasma could be used to save a life? Check out your local yellow pages and see if there is a plasma donation center near you. Learn more about Traci Anderson  Traci is a work-at-home-mom (WAHM) from beautiful Big Sky Country (Montana). She spends most of her time trying to keep up with two extremely energetic (but hysterical) Irish twins. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments  Tracy Woods (772) 29 Jan 2008 09:27 PMSeriously? I'm sorry, but as a phlebotomist who spent a lot of hours explaining to people why they should DONATE platelets and plasma, this sickens me. Why not call it what it is? SELLING your plasma, and generally to companies who use those potentially life saving components for research, tends to be for cosmetics more than anything. So when there are fewer donors to help the premie babies, the patients with Leukemia, and the burn victims, we can thank these places that PAY to BUY components from people who can't be bothered with one little selfless act. But if nothing else, seriously, stop calling it a DONATION. If you are PAID for it, it's not a DONATION. BrianKP (5) 27 Aug 2008 10:01 AMI seriously disagree with Tracy Woods. While plasma donors are compensated for their time, they're not directly compensated for their plasma... although the two are closely related. She rants that plasma donors rob the blood supply of donations -- and while that's true, she indicates that plasma donations are used for cosmetics in lieu of actual medical treatments. That's not really true -- plasma is vital in the treatment of shock patients and burn victims. It's used in creating medications and vaccinations that help protect people from diseases, and treat them in the event that they weren't protected in a timely manner. It is true that the donated plasma is sold -- that's a good thing. It boosts the economy and puts money in the pockets of businesses, which further boosts our economy. She neglects to mention that the Red Cross, the nation's largest collector of donated whole blood provides the blood to hospitals which in turn sells the blood. So then, what's the difference between donating plasma and donating whole blood? While both serve to fulfill important needs in the medical community, in donating plasma, everybody benefits... the donor is compensated for his/her time, the company is compensated for the time, testing, and products and the patient benefits from the end product.... Whole blood donations benefit everybody but the donor. By the way, Tracy, if you'd like to throw around titles, I'm a nursing assistant, therapy aide, pharmacy tech, radiographer, and paralegal. What does being a phlebotomist have to do with your opinion, exactly? Samual (11722) 27 Aug 2008 01:20 PMHere people donate blood and plasma due wanting to help others, not to make easy money which would otherwise be used for treating patients. Here blood and plasma are freely moved around the country to ensure all hospitals have an adequate suppy, then again here you don't have to pay thousands to live.  Dale Harcombe (10321) 27 Aug 2008 02:04 PMI saw this in a movie recently that people got paid for donating blood and could not believe my eyes. I n Australia blood and plasma donations are done voluntarily and I for one am grateful for those people who donate. My daughter would not be alive if they didn't. When Igive blood I am in an out in half an hour, mine runs so freely. I take a book but never get very far. Lanzera (6) 01 Oct 2008 10:59 AMGood article! I just wanted to add that getting people involved with donating plasma at a young age really helps 'train' folks to donate blood for free when they are older...there is no subsitute for human blood and so it is something that everyone must contribute. For more information on the process and to find a local blood center checkout: http://bloodbanker.com techscichick (5) 08 Jul 2009 09:49 AMI'm sorry, but there is a BIG difference between selling blood and donating it. Plasma that is sold to blood banks is used for commercial use only. Human plasma is a commodity and is used for cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies. A blood donation is quite different. You see, non-profit blood collecting organizations such as the Red Cross and United Blood Services must be very careful about the quality and safety of the blood supply. Donors are not paid for their donations because we do not want to entice people who have blood borne diseases to donate and infect patients in need. If a blood bank is telling you that they are paying you for a donation to help save lives, they are lying to you. They just say it to make you feel good. If you really want to do something to good, why not donate instead? You can potentially save up to 4 lives with one donation (plasma, blood cells, platelets and white cells) and while it is true that plasma from the non-profits is some times sold as well when it goes out of date to be used for hospitals, the money is reinvested into the non-profit to support blood education programs, bone marrow donation programs and the like. What the commercial blood banks that pay their donors do with the money? They laugh all the way to the bank. As a former recruiter for United Blood Services, who had a heck of a time trying to convince people to donate blood for my local community, please make an educated choice to donate rather than sell. ohswriting (10) 08 Aug 2009 02:38 AMSome of you are very retarded. Plasma is very expensive to make in to medications. It is 90% water. Thus it takes a lot of it to make a little medicine.One injection can cost hundreds of dollars and requires many many liters of plasma. It would be impossible to get enough plasma from donors without compensating them for their time and effort. Some is used for cosmetics but it is minimal. Anyone who has an issue with donating plasma has no understanding of the situation or business practices in general. Most of all that person knows nothing about medicine. If you don't like it you are a moron and can die because without plasma donation many people would be dead already. ohswriting (10) 08 Aug 2009 02:42 AMThe following is a list of Idiots that added their two bits without any knowledge to back it up. techscichick Samual Tracy Woods Yes I can say this because I work in a plasma center. I know it all when it come to plasma. Tracy Woods (772) 01 Nov 2009 06:28 PMFor the record, unless your first name happens to be "God", you don't "know it all" about anything. Blood and blood products used for human transfusion can only com from volunteer, UNPAID donors. If you choose to sell your plasma to benefit pharmaceutical companies, and moreover cosmetic companies, fine, but don't kid yourself into thinking you're doing anyone a great service. A lot of paid "donations" aren't even used in this country. That's basic knowledge if you work in a place like this....what do you do there? Clean the place after it closes? You cannot transfuse a patient with blood or blood products (just in case you're that dim, plasma and platelets fall under "blood products") that have been paid for. It's illegal. To whoever said that blood donation benefits everyone but the donor, for all those supposed titles you carry, you are apparently not very well educated. Why don't you go look into the health benefits of whole blood donation. Community Tags donation, Donate, give blood, make money, plasma, sell plasma Discuss this article
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