KENTWOOD, Mich. — A new plasma donation facility in Kentwood is making it easier for residents to help save lives while earning extra money.
The recently opened Octapharma Plasma facility celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, marking another location where donors can contribute to life-saving treatments.
The facility is located at 5225 Eastern Ave SE. It is the second location for Octapharma in West Michigan and the ninth in the entire state.
The plasma collected at these facilities helps hundreds of thousands of people with serious medical conditions, including those with primary immune deficiencies like Heather McShane, who relies on plasma-derived treatments to stay healthy.
"They're a group of 550 rare conditions where it's caused by a genetic variant, and either part of your immune system is not working properly or it's missing completely," McShane said.
Heather grew up frequently ill. She says she was known as "the sick kid," dealing with symptoms for nearly 2 decades until she became an adult.
"I don't produce antibodies on my own to help prevent or fight off infections," she said.
Now, Heather receives immune support through plasma infusions from Octapharma, which has significantly improved her quality of life.
WATCH: Kentwood plasma donation center helps save lives while providing income for donors
"So infections definitely do go down. They're more easily treated," McShane said. "When you're not treated, sometimes you have to go through multiple rounds of antibiotics to treat an infection."
For donors like Jeff Hernandez, the facility provides an opportunity to give back to the community while earning income.
As a former firefighter with over 10 years of service, Hernandez found a new way to help others after back injuries ended his firefighting career.
"I wasn't able to do that anymore because of my back injuries, so once I talked to my friend, I came into Plasma and was able to give back to the community locally," Hernandez said.
The compensation aspect has been particularly helpful for donors facing financial challenges.
"Just after COVID, it was kind of hard for us, you know, to pay some bills," Hernandez said. "If you're struggling for money right now, as a lot of people are, you do get paid for coming in."
The impact of these donations cannot be overstated for patients like Heather, who emphasized the critical need for plasma donations.
"Here's over 500,000 Americans with primary immune deficiencies in the United States," McShane said. "With that many individuals relying on it, it can take hundreds of donations to make a year's worth of treatment for an adult with PI. So the donations are a huge, huge factor."
Octapharma will process the donated plasma into medicines that will help people throughout Michigan and beyond, turning each donation into potentially life-saving treatments for those who need them most.
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