students additional income

By Peter Gudlewski

Special to the Daily

Students looking for a little extra cash can earn about $50 a week for relatively little work.

“Donating plasma is a lot like giving blood,” said Geoff Mosby, assistant manager of the Ames Biolife Plasma Services facility, 1616 Golden Aspen Drive. “[Donating] plasma takes a little bit longer though, and that’s why we compensate with money.”

While the blood plasma donated at Biolife has a variety of potential uses, plasma’s main use is in injectable products, Mosby said. These products treat numerous illnesses and deficiencies, among them hepatitis and emphysema. Plasma is also used to restore plasma volume in shock, trauma and burn victims as well as surgical patients, he said.

Biolife advertises throughout the year, and most first-time donors hear about Biolife through newspaper ads. However, word-of-mouth prompts many to become first time donors, Mosby said.

“I definitely recommend that anybody who wants to donate plasma call ahead and make an appointment,” Mosby said. “It speeds things up for them and it is easier for us.”

The first visit generally takes about two and a half hours, but after that, the visits last about an hour and a half.

“All of the starting tests take 30 to 45 minutes, but it takes about an hour to donate plasma once you’re on the bed,” Mosby said.

Every visit begins with a weigh-in and the testing of total protein and blood iron count, as well as medical history questions. During the school year, the facility serves approximately 300 donors a day.

Donors can donate plasma twice a week, provided they wait 48 hours between each donation, and are paid $20 for the first visit in a week and $30 for the second.

“It’s the perfect `job’ for a student because it’s just the right amount of money for a college student to live on, and you get your own hours,” said Khye Kading, senior in art and design.

Biolife tests all plasma donations for HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, and performs standard drug tests to each donated bag of plasma.

The plasma donations are tested in Hoover, Ala., and from there are sent to storage facilities nationwide. The plasma donated in Ames is sent primarily to Vienna, Austria and Rochester, Minn., Mosby said.

Donors give a level of plasma related to their weight. Those who weigh between 110 and 149 pounds give 690 ml of plasma in each sitting, while donors from 150 to 174 pounds give 825 ml and donors weighing over 175 pounds give 880 ml.

“I don’t see why everybody doesn’t do it. You make money, you help people and you can read or do homework while you do it,” said Ben Miller, recent graduate in computer engineering.

Donors are rewarded for recruiting new donors, earning $5 for each new donor they recruit.

The Biolife facility in Ames has 43 staff members, including a doctor and four registered nurses on staff, and the facility has a day care that is available by appointment.

In addition to the professional medical staff and the day care workers, Biolife has a manager, two assistant managers, two training coordinators and a quality assistance supervisor on staff.

The rest of the employees are metastorians, which are front desk personnel in charge of check-ins and initial blood testing, and phlebotomists, the staff members who actively extract the plasma.

Often donor-phlebotomist relationships develop, and donors will schedule their visits on days when certain phlebotomists are working, Mosby said.

Donors must be between 110 and 400 pounds, and must be between the ages of 18 and 60. However, if a donor has been donating prior to his or her 60th birthday, that donor may continue to donate plasma until age 65.

“I only regret not going more,” Kading said.