#Paid to donate blood skin#

Inside his right elbow on the skin above his good vein was a small, black, circular scar from all the times before today that the needle had gone in. ROMER: Robert was here in Cherry Hill, N.J., to donate his blood plasma. ROMER: She just call you Robert with the good vein? OK, you can out your arm down, Robert with the good vein. UNIDENTIFIED PHLEBOTOMIST: Can you lift your arm up, please? Thank you.

#Paid to donate blood full#

When I first met Robert Matthews (ph), he was lying on a black reclining bed in a room full of black reclining beds, about to have a phlebotomist stick a very large metal needle into his arm. “We’ve had a pretty busy week, and that’s good.SYLVIE DOUGLIS, BYLINE: This is PLANET MONEY from NPR.

“We really put a lot of emphasis on making this a comfortable and secure place because it gives an incentive to come back-you know, 'This is my time and I can come here and have a couple hours to myself,'” says blood center operations manager Eric Rosa. And given the perks and pay incentive, he’s banking on repeat donors: if each donor shows up six times a year, it would only require around 2,000 donors total to make a meaningful difference in the region’s supply, he says. “As a result, OHSU and hospitals everywhere must make difficult decisions about which patients receive platelet transfusions and who must wait.”Īccording to Mohan, the typical blood platelet donors at THBC are women in their late 30s, though donors vary in age. “ Because platelets have the shortest expiration date of all the blood products, the platelet inventory most often limits our ability to provide optimal care for our patients,' says Trisha Wong, assistant medical director of OHSU Transfusion Services. THBC is selling its platelets to local hospitals, which use them to help prevent bleeding in cancer patients as well as those undergoing surgery and organ transplants. Image: Courtesy of Trusting Heart Blood Center And so that’s what we think we can provide: an experience in an environment that’s accessible, but also an understanding that compensation might be required for some people in order for them to fit it into their day.” “Oftentimes younger people don’t have that kind of time, given financial constraints. “It’s a three-hour time commitment, and the question in our minds is, 'Who’s willing to do this today?'” asks Trusting Heart founder and CEO Vijai Mohan. Surroundings aside, the goal is the same: attract more donors in order to help alleviate yet another health crisis that Oregon is now facing: a major blood supply shortage, which includes platelets. The 'donor suite' and the waiting room (with a gas fireplace, cushioned swivel chairs, a coffee and tea bar, flavor-enhanced water, Gatorade, juice, granola bars, snack-size bags of popcorn, and pretzel chips) are a far cry from the more familiar hospital-esque vibe with juice and cookies found at most mobile blood donation centers-though many nonprofit donation centers do offer gift cards as thank-yous.

#Paid to donate blood tv#

The whole thing can take up to three hours, so that's a lot of TV time. As opposed to a regular blood donation, giving platelets involves being hooked up to a machine that removes the tiny cells in your blood that form clots and help stop bleeding (called platelets) but returns red blood cells and plasma to your body.