Recently Recovered From COVID-19? You Could Help Save A Life.
If you have recovered from the coronavirus (COVID-19), you may be eligible to donate plasma to LifeBridge Health for research and possible treatment of others who are ill.
"If a patient suffers from the disease and then they recover, part of the reason they recover is that they developed antibodies and fought off the disease. And so, there's a theory that we can actually take the antibodies that person has developed and transfuse them into a patient who is acutely ill, and that may help the acutely ill patient recover more quickly," says Matthew Poffenroth, M.D., chief clinical officer at LifeBridge Health, Physician Enterprise.
Blood donated by people who have recovered from COVID-19 is used to make antibody-rich convalescent plasma. Prior experience with respiratory viruses and limited data that have emerged from China suggest that convalescent plasma can potentially lessen the severity or shorten the length of illness caused by COVID-19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says.
LifeBridge Health is partnering with the Blood Bank of Delmarva and the American Red Cross to coordinate plasma donations in accordance with FDA-approved protocols. To donate, you must be symptom-free for 14 days and show a negative result from a second COVID-19 test or be symptom-free for 28 days (in which case you would not need to take a second COVID-19 test).
Those who are eligible can donate through the Blood Bank of Delmarva's or American Red Cross' convalescent plasma programs. The donation process takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete and is simple. Donors are often able to relax and watch a movie during the process.
While there is still a lot to be learned about convalescent plasma, there is hope that this therapy can potentially save lives.
If you are interested in donating plasma, visit lifebridgehealth.org/plasma to learn more.
Visit lifebridgehealth.org or call 410-601-WELL to learn more about our services at LifeBridge Health and scheduling an appointment.
