ER nurse makes 4th coronavirus convalescent plasma donation

A retired emergency room nurse donated her COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) for the fourth time July 6 since surviving coronavirus.

Elizabeth “Buffy” Isenberger from Washington Court House tested positive for the virus in late March.

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“I felt like I had weights tied to all my extremities,” she said. “I was extremely fatigued and the last two weeks, I lost my taste and smell, and I had an eye infection the whole time.”

The program, run by the Dayton Community Blood Center, has been active since April and has had 145 procedure/donations. On average, one CCP donation can be divided into three doses or units. They have shipped 377 units so far.

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These donations can go to any of the 23 partner hospitals in their 15-county region, with most CCP going to Premier Health, Kettering Health Network hospitals and Reid Health in Richmond, Indiana.

The program recently expanded its donor requirements to include donors who have tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies by blood test. They must be symptom-free for 28 days.

Isenberger encourages others to donate CCP and remembers the satisfaction of her first CCP donation.

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“It was great, went like clockwork,” she said. “They sent me notifications when the serum was used on a patient and that gave me positive reinforcement to come back. I saw it was used and was needed. I could feel like I could help anybody by donating.”

Information about the program, eligibility and how to donate can be found on the CBC’s website.

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