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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1997)
Plasma provides (profitable pastime By Sean McCarthy Assignment Reporter You may have to do it because of that $ 15 check you wrote against your account’s $8. You may want to do it when your pals tell you to meet them downtown for Monday Night Football, and you only have $10 to last you until payday ... next week. Stick out your arm and make a fist: It’s time to l \ donate plasma. j j When it comes to earning quick cash, many stu | dents choose the option of donating plasma, the liq | uid portion of blood. Two primary centers - North | American Biological Medical Center, 300 S. 17th { 1 St., and Centeon Bio-Services, Inc., 1442 O St. - S1 | \ give students the chance to exchange the warm bod | ily fluid for a more accepted currency - cold, hard j cash. bach center has a pre-screening process, mclud » j | ing a physical and questions about body piercings ! | and “high-risk” partners. Separate tests to deter \ mine if a person’s veins are fit for donating also are f ! done at each facility. ] ] Once approved, students can enter the world of ! | plasma donation. Shawn Hoatson, assistant manager of NAB I Bio-Medical Center, estimates between 150 and 200 people donate each day. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of donors are students, he said. NABI can handle up to 30 people donating at any one time. Hoatson said he turns a number of people away from donating each day. “High risk is not what a lot of people think it is,” Hoatson said, “Tattoos or piercing with non-sterile needles would qualify as high risk.” Stick it in Early in the morning is the busiest time for donating, Hoatson said. While some donate sporadically, Hoatson said he has seen others come in twice a week, every week, for years. “I’m sure for some of these people, it can be a primary source of their income,” he said. The Food and Drug Administration ruled that people are allowed to donate plasma no more than twice a week. This allows the body sufficient time to recover from donating, Hoatson said. Donors at NABI receive $20 for their first visit. The second time they go in within the week, they receive $50. The rise in pay is to encourage people to return, Hoatson said. After this, NABI determines what a person earns by their weight. A 180-pound person receives $15 for the first donation of the week and $27 for the second. Centeon operates on a similar setup. Donors receive $30 for their first visit, $50 on their second visit and $25 on their third visit the following week. After this, donors who weigh more than 150 pounds receive $20 per donation. Those who weigh less than 150 pounds are paid slightly less. After the bags of plasma are collected, NABI stores them in a freezer for various viral tests. The plasma is then sent to medical facilities across the nation. Customers of NABI include aspirin-maker Bayer and Korea Green Cross, which uses plasma for tetanus immunization. Centeon sends its plasma to pharma ceutical processing plants. Hurts so good Krstie Webber, a Centeon donor, said she usually donates twice a week. A usual donation session lasts about 45 minutes for her, she said. Though the needle doesn’t bother her, the final part of the donating process can sometimes be irritating, she said. “When they’re all done and they put the saline solu tion in, it puts a nasty taste in your mouth,” she said. Another irritation for Webber is the selection of movies playing while she’s donating - supposedly to ease some of the pain of donation. “They play a lot of Disney movies, which is really stupid,” she said. i^u an unucciaicu aupiiuiiiurc ai 111c University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he donated about two or three times a month at Centeon. Most of the cash he receives goes to food, bills and an occasional brew, he said. McElhinny said he didn’t mind the environ ment, and thought the selection of movies was good at Centeon. “I saw ‘The Crow' here a while ago, and that’s the best movie I’ve seen here so far,” McElhinny said. Along with movies, NAB I and Centeon have mag azines to read, and beds that enable a student to study while donating' making the experience more comfort able. “Donors can converse with the employees, and we can inform them on all that’s going on. That way it’s not going to be quite as difficult for the donor,” Hoatson said. Aaron Steckelberg/DN Indie veterans deliver energetic, quirky show By Jason Hardy Music Critic After more than three years of waiting, Nebraska finally saw the return of indie-rock veteran Pavement. The melodic rockers took to the Ranch Bowl’s stage at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday and played until about mid night. In its 1 ‘A-hour performance, Pavement defined what a live performance should be. After dedicating the night to furniture mogul Mrs. B, lead singer and guitarist Steve Malkmus started the show with “Shady Lane,” a mellow, sing-songy tune off the band’s newest release, “Brighten the Corners.” The quintet proceeded to play songs from each of its five albums. Every tune was tight and clean, but altered enough to give the audience more than just a replay of the recorded tracks. By the end of the night Pavement had played at least two songs from every album, including “Grave Architecture,” from the album “Wowee Zowee,” and “Silence Kit” from “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.” Malkmus and guitarist Spiral Stairs spiced up the songs with elongated guitar solos, and percussionist Bob Nastanovich added a wacky flare by screaming back-up vocals and inserting quirky noises and rhythms throughout the show. Steve West’s drumming and the bass of Mark Ibold com bined for an intricate rhythm that kept each song moving. The overall tone of the show was more loud and intense than that of the group’s albums, and Malkmus changed lyrics of “Range Life” to suit the sold-out Omaha crowd by poking fun at fraternity favorites, 311. The crowd sang along with Pavement’s most radio-friendly songs, “Cut Your Hair” and “Stereo,” and danced to the groovy “Blue Hawaiian.” Ibold said Omaha’s performance was the fifth show on Pavement’s tour, which started a week ago in San Francisco. He said the band was stopping at some of the places it had skipped on previous tours because of time constraints. u — I’m happy in any situation. If there’s a good stage sound, we perforin well.” Mark Ibold Pavement bassist “We’re playing in some cities that we haven’t had the chance to play in a while,” Ibold said. Although the group has been touring off and on since 1991, Ibold said he loved play ing at different places, and that the band still felt nervous and excited before every show. He said the group had been playing in small er venues, but that size and location didn’t matter very much either. “I’m happy in any situation,” Ibold said. “If there’s a good stage sound, we perform well.” Matt Miller/DN PAVEMENT BASSIST Mark (bold plays to a sold-out crowd at Omaha’s Ranch Bowl Saturday night.