Southern Blood Services is a small specialty plasma center in Hoover that gives its donors, most of whom are women, a marvelous chance to help save lives.
Founded in 1999, the center collects high-quality, antibody-enriched plasma from qualified donors that is then used to manufacture life-saving drugs.
This includes Rho(D) Immune Globulin — a critically important drug used to save the lives of babies whose blood types are incompatible with their pregnant mothers.
When a mother has a negative blood type and her baby has a positive blood type, there’s a risk the mother’s antibodies will attack the baby’s blood. This can cause the baby to become sick and even die.
The Mothers Needed Program, or the Rh Incompatibility Program, at Southern Blood Services helps provide women with Rho(D) Immune Globulin.
The primary focus of Southern Blood Services is the collection of needed antibodies from people who’ve developed them through pregnancy, blood transfusions or vaccines. The donors are women, or men who are Rh negative.
Without its many dedicateddonors, Southern Blood Services would not be able to help facilitate the production of the life-saving Rho(D) Immune Globulin manyexpectant mothers need.
“They donate so this vaccine can be made,” says Martina Sertell, director of the Birmingham location of Southern Blood Services, “These are women who realize how much they are helping other women have children.”
The favorite part of Sertell’s job is the people she meets, including the donors who are helping so many women and families.
“People are amazing,” Sertell said.
Southern Blood Services also offers a Rabies Antibody Program and a more general Red Cell Antibody Program that can help people who’ve been exposed to viruses by boosting their immune systems with those antibodies.
If you have been immunized for these viruses or have another antibody of some kind, your donations could help someone gain immunity to a virus to which he or she has been exposed.
These red cell antibodies are rare and each one is unique. In order to see if you qualify, we ask that you come to our centers and have a blood sample drawn so we can identify and measure your antibody.
In addition to the comfort they find in helping other people, donors at Southern Blood Services can also receive financial compensation of up to $700 per month.
If you qualify as a red-cell antibody donor, your blood will be used in production of blood typing materials, and you will earn compensation for each donation. The Red Cell Antibody Program is a plasma program, and you can safely donate plasma twice a week if your antibody is needed. Each donation takes about 45 minutes.
Southern Blood Services is located at 3800 Colonnade Parkway, Suite. 200. There are also collection facilities in Tuscaloosa and Nashville.
For more information, go online to southernbloodservices.com or call 205-967-8189.
