Kentucky Blood Center focusing on plasma donations to fight COVID-19

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients is being used as treatment for those who are severely ill and the Kentucky Blood Center is doing its part to help.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to have donated plasma come from four different patients already and that’s being taken to local hospitals for critically ill patients,” said Director of Marketing Mandy Brajuha.

Brajuha says hospitals have helped them identify patients.

In terms of using plasma, Brajuha says this type of treatment has been used with other illnesses like SARS, “The belief is that the antibodies the recovered patient has built in their plasma will help critically ill patients start to recover.”

So far the response has been positive, according to Brajuha, “The patient had not deteoriated or gotten any worse, which at that point, when someone is critically ill is actually a great sign.”

Brajuha says plasma donation typically takes less than an hour which is longer than a typical blood donation.

“We typically do whole blood, we do platelets and we do double red blood cells. So this is a little bit different and we’re kind of doing this as a special operation,” said Brajuha.

Brajuha says they’ve been adapting to the changes and seeing where the need is. Last month, the Kentucky Blood Center was facing a ‘critical’ shortage in blood donations. 

“We canceled upwards of 200 drives and we were very concerned. And we sort of put a call out and people heard the call and we’ve seen amazing numbers,” said Brajuha.

While there isn’t a critical shortage, Brajuha says she hopes people will continue to donate blood since donations tend to lag during the warmer months.

People interested in donating blood can make an appointment on their website. Anyone interested in seeing if they fit the criteria to donate plasma should fill out the form on their website.