Coronavirus: Plea for more men to come forward and donate plasma
More than a dozen donors are attending a blood plasma donation centre each day – but more are still needed to fight Covid.
The facility, launched four weeks ago at Carillion House, in Salop Street, Wolverhampton, is seeing the number of donors increase each week.
The NHS particularly wants the blood of men who have already contracted coronavirus as their blood is rich in antibodies – used to fight off the virus.
Convalescent plasma from their blood, containing the antibodies, is transfused into patients whose immune systems are struggling to cope with coronavirus.
It is part of a trial being run by the NHS.
Lynn Savage, the interim manager of the donor centre, said the donation process was “very simple” which can take between 40 minutes and one hour.
She said: “It is a very simple process of putting a needle in.We have very clever machines that do everything for us, it is a procedure that doesn’t make people feel ill.
“People are on their phones, laptops whatever while they are donating. It takes around 40 minutes to an hour.
“They come off, they have a drink and a snack and they just sit until they are ready to go. It is relatively simple, it doesn’t take too long.”
The facility has a number of beds lined up in rows, each equipped with a Scinomed plasma machine, which takes the blood from patients.
Around 15 to 20 donors are attending each day but the facility is “gradually building up the number of people we have each week”, said Ms Savage.
Among the donors yesterday was Russell Hill, 36, from Shrewsbury, who is a tarmac operative.
He overcame coronavirus and felt it was important to give others struggling with the virus a fighting chance.
He said: “If you can do something to help someone, whatever small percentage, then that is only a good thing isn’t it.
“It is just to try and help because I was obviously one of the lucky ones that it didn’t really affect that bad. That is the only reason really, to try and do some good from it.”
He added: “I was nervous at first but now we are operational that is fine, it is okay. It is the first time I have ever done something like this.”
That sense of giving was the same for many patients walking through the doors, said Ms Savage. She said: “People really want to come and do this because they had covid, and if they have had a bad experience, it helps them feel like they are doing something to fight the virus.
“Or maybe they have not had it too badly, and they know someone who has, and they want to do something good. I think it makes them feel good that they are able to help.”
She added: “Anybody who has had Covid can come and donate, but what we need is men who had Covid.
“If ladies have had it, we take samples and check their antibodies before they come through.
“What we have found, men produce more antibodies. We want men to donate if they can.”
