Latest / Buying Local Podcast / Donating Plasma Decoded with Ben Ward | Buying Local S3E45

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Donating Plasma Decoded with Ben Ward | Buying Local S3E45 · Buying Local Podcast

0:00
Yes, welcome back to Buying Local, everybody.
0:02
I'm your host, Mike Nelson from 5 Towers Media joined today.
0:05
You guys are actually going to enjoy this because Ben's got
0:07
this wonderful southern accent that everyone's going to.
0:11
I assume it's southern, It sounds Southern, It is southern,
0:13
it is southern. So we'll find out what part of
0:15
Southern it is, but we're here with Ben Ward from Immunotech
0:20
Plasma. Welcome.
0:22
Thank you. Yeah, thanks for coming on the
0:23
show, man. No thanks for coming out.
0:25
Yeah. And thanks to our our sales
0:28
specialist, Matt Noth for making it all happen.
0:31
Yeah, I think you guys just had a ribbon cutting with the.
0:34
Chamber, we just had a two year ribbon cutting, 2 year cutting.
0:38
That's How I Met up with Matt and everything.
0:39
And yeah, now we're here. Yeah.
0:41
And that was with the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce.
0:43
Of course, we love those guys over there at the chamber.
0:46
Amazing chamber. As they are.
0:48
Are you a new member or you've been a member with?
0:49
Those we've been a member. So I'm newer to the area, of
0:52
course so, but I've really kind of dived in and you know, trying
0:57
to involve her bulb Aminotech more with the Chamber of
1:00
Commerce and the community in the area.
1:02
While you're in the right spot, those guys do an amazing job.
1:04
I can't say enough good things about Trisha and Amanda and Ava
1:07
and everybody over there. So, so I know right before we
1:11
started recording, we're talking you, you started here January,
1:15
but you've been doing this for 20 years.
1:17
Almost 20 years, anywhere between 15 to 20.
1:21
I've actually worked. I've worked for Muno Tech for
1:22
three years. Three years, OK.
1:24
So I worked in the corporate office.
1:25
Of course, you know, downsizing. They cut that position.
1:28
They convinced me to take over the center here.
1:30
So I moved here from the hills of Tennessee.
1:32
The hills of Tennessee. So from the foothills of the
1:34
Great Smoky Mountain stuff the hills of the Adirondack.
1:37
So yeah, it's a beautiful area for sure.
1:40
Well. At least you still got
1:40
mountains. Yes, exactly.
1:42
That's a plus. It's just a little colder.
1:44
Yeah, and I'll take it. We Oh yeah, I like the colder
1:47
weather. Yeah, I'd same.
1:49
I run pretty hot, so it's the coolness is yeah.
1:51
So it's been a nice change for sure, yeah.
1:55
And so you've been with Immunotech for three years, you
1:57
said, but I did you say that you've been doing this kind of
2:00
work for 20 years? Yeah, I got my start when in
2:03
2007, just part time as a college kid and liked it and
2:07
just stuck with it. And, you know, here I am.
2:10
Yeah. So I've worked for for numerous
2:13
competitors, of course. So, but so far, I love them
2:17
Unitech. I love working here.
2:19
Otherwise, I don't think I would have moved all the way to from
2:21
Tennessee. That's quite, that's a big jump.
2:23
That's right. That's a sure sign that you're
2:26
committed at that point as an employee, right?
2:28
Yeah, yeah, for sure. But you know, I think we're
2:32
we're getting it slowly, Yeah, turned around here trying to
2:35
ramp up, get some more plasma right now and get some more
2:38
donors to the door. But other than that, I'm loving
2:41
the area. Yeah, it's, I mean, you know
2:43
what I pulled in. It seems like it's pretty busy.
2:44
A lot of cars in the parking lot.
2:46
Yeah, I was really busy today, which is good thing to see.
2:48
We just started ramping up here at the beginning of the month,
2:52
you know, got some customers are needing some plasma and you
2:55
know, it's great to see the donors coming out today for
2:57
sure. Yeah.
2:58
Yeah, it's a. It's interesting too because I
3:01
have no experience with with donating blood, although I know
3:06
that the word is plasma now, right?
3:08
I guess we don't use blood anymore.
3:10
I was wondering about that when I was doing some research for
3:12
the show. So we don't collect whole blood,
3:14
you know, there's companies that do still collect whole blood.
3:17
There's there's still need for whole blood, you know, in our
3:22
industry, in the plasma industry, we compensate our
3:24
donors, you know, based on that, that compensate.
3:28
And ours can only be used into the manufacturer of medic
3:31
medications. So some companies that do
3:34
volunteer donations where they don't compensate the donors,
3:37
that's used more in the hospital setting.
3:39
So, but yeah, ours strictly for medic, we're considered
3:43
manufacturing mostly because, you know, this is the base, the
3:46
bottom of the level here for, you know, making the medications
3:51
for that. But yeah, there's nothing out
3:56
there synthetically, you know, that could be produced to make
3:59
plasma. I mean, you know, all the
4:00
proteins we get out of them, there's numerous sayings that it
4:05
goes towards people with, you know, hemophiliacs that you
4:08
know, can't clot, people with primary immunodeficiencies.
4:14
It goes for stuff like that and also goes for vaccines, meaning
4:17
and all vaccines that you know are made, it requires requires
4:20
plasma donations. You know, we need a lot of them
4:24
too, you know, I mean, just to treat one hemophiliac patient,
4:27
it's about 1200 donors donations.
4:30
Holy moly. So, you know, takes a lot, you
4:33
know, we need, you know, and trying to just spread the
4:36
awareness and get more donors out.
4:39
You know, it's great way to make some extra money on the side.
4:42
You can do it twice in a seven day period that was.
4:45
Going to be one of my questions is because I was reading, I was
4:47
like supplemental income. I was like, what does that mean?
4:49
And I was like, I wonder how often you can actually donate,
4:52
man. Like, yeah.
4:53
So most months, people can get in about 10 donations a month.
4:56
Holy moly, you know, And hey, I've seen people save up and
4:59
take take vacations on that money, you know, save up for any
5:03
other projects, you know, you know, it comes from us.
5:07
It is tax free. Oh, no kidding.
5:09
So you know. All sorts of benefits.
5:12
So yeah, there's all sorts of benefits with it.
5:13
You know, you come in, you donate, you go through the
5:16
process. At the end, we put all the money
5:19
on a little prepaid Visa card that you can just sit on there,
5:21
let it build up or, you know, move it over to a savings
5:24
account and let us build some interest.
5:26
But yeah, you can make a good chunk of change.
5:29
I know right now I think our Max weight donor can probably almost
5:34
pull about $900 a month. Really.
5:38
Wow. Yeah.
5:39
So anywhere between 8 to 900 on the Max weight.
5:42
So that's. A a fair amount of money and so
5:44
it's a good. Good chunk of change, yeah.
5:46
Yeah, I can do a lot with $900. No, no, right.
5:48
Well so help me understand I I guess I feel like I should know
5:53
but I don't know like what is the difference between blood and
5:56
plasma? So whole blood, I mean there's
5:59
many different parts of the blood.
6:01
We keep just the plasma portion, which what it's the liquid
6:05
portion of the blood. So that's about 70% of it.
6:08
So we just keep the plasma portion.
6:10
We return the red cells, the white blood cells, the platelets
6:12
all back to you. So we don't keep any portion of
6:14
that really. Yep, we just keep the plasma
6:17
with the protein. So we do, we do a process called
6:20
plasmapheresis. So, you know, we stick you with
6:23
a needle and the machine, the phoresis machine, draws it out
6:26
of you. It's Sinner.
6:28
It spins in the bowl. Yeah.
6:32
And then once it's done, it expresses the plasma out of that
6:35
bowl while it's spinning. And then once it's done, it
6:39
stops, returns the red cells back to you, and then just keeps
6:42
doing that process back and forth until you've reached your
6:45
total donation target. Wow.
6:50
How does it return it? And like, I assume you have to
6:54
in order to return it. Like so we're talking about like
6:56
the red blood cells, white blood cells, all that stuff that's
6:58
coming back into your body. Yep.
6:59
So I assume you have to have some level of plasma in order to
7:02
return that in there. Nope.
7:04
When we return it back to you, I mean all the plasma's expressed
7:07
out of that bowl of whole blood and then it goes back into now
7:11
will you do draw it with anticoagulant to keep the blood
7:14
from clotting in the set? OK.
7:16
So that keeps it, you know, moving and going and not
7:18
clotting? Interesting.
7:20
Yep. So we draw them in like 5%
7:22
anticoagulant solution. So of course you know, byproduct
7:26
of a little bit of that gets in in the plasma.
7:28
But yeah, you know. But yeah, you know, we return it
7:31
and then at the end we replace the fluids we took with you with
7:35
the 500 milliliters of saline. OK, So you're just kind of
7:38
hooked up and it looks like you got some really comfy A bedside
7:44
like right like they are very. Comfortable, you know, we're
7:46
always having the donor's awake because, you know, it's, it's
7:49
hard not to sit there for, you know, 3045 minutes.
7:52
Is that how long it takes? Yeah.
7:53
Yeah, about 3045 minutes to an hour.
7:55
It all depends on how hydrated you are.
7:57
You know the more hydrated you are, the better, the better your
8:01
experience is going to be. Well, you guys should all be
8:03
being well hydrated anyway. Drink that gallon of water a
8:06
day. But you can't fall asleep
8:11
though. Nope, we got us to keep your
8:13
eyes alert, so we know. Everything's OK.
8:15
Everything's good, you know, going to be able to see your
8:17
eyes and stuff like that. But yeah, no, not allowed to
8:21
sleep during the process or, you know, eat or drink, of course,
8:24
stuff like that. How do you decide on how much
8:30
blood someone can give? Is that weight driven?
8:32
It's weight driven, so the software all knows once when you
8:39
come in as a donor, you get screened.
8:40
We we document your weight in our donor management system and
8:44
it calculates how much we were able to draw from you.
8:46
And you know, the machine does its thing.
8:48
Yeah, once we get you going. So it just runs until it hits
8:52
that target and then at the end of that target gives you 500 mil
8:54
of saline. We pull the needle.
8:56
Soon as we pull it, you know you're getting paid and you're
8:58
out the door. And I know like with I don't
9:02
know, but I've heard withdrawing blood that like you can't just
9:07
get it because I can get dizzy and things like that.
9:09
Just getting up right after. It's like, are you able to pop
9:11
right up and go right out the door or do you kind of have a
9:14
chill time while you're getting the saline or?
9:16
Yeah, you kind of have a chill time while you're getting the
9:17
saline. It takes one to two.
9:19
It takes, yeah, 2 to 3 minutes to get the saline.
9:23
Of course, it's room temperature, so a lot of people
9:25
are cold afterwards, you know, getting the saline.
9:28
But yeah, Darren, when you're getting the saline, you're just
9:30
hanging out. You're still just sitting there
9:32
laying, you know, playing on Wi-Fi or, you know, watching one
9:35
of the TV's. Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
9:40
How many? How many donors do you get
9:42
through in a month? I would say we've been averaging
9:48
anywhere say about 600 a month right now.
9:54
Definitely, you know, they definitely would love to double
9:57
that. Yeah, the Turkey ideally, yeah,
10:01
you know, but I know we're, we're just now starting to wrap
10:04
up and everything. So hopefully we can get it
10:07
there. Yeah.
10:09
You know, one of the things that I wanted to ask you was are
10:13
there any health benefits to donating plasma?
10:15
Because I know I like I had recently, I think it was Gary
10:18
Brecca was talking about that the health benefits of actually
10:23
donating blood And and I'm not smart enough to speak to what
10:27
those benefits are, but there are some benefits.
10:30
You can research them guys. Gary Brecco was talking about
10:32
it. If you know Gary is, are, are
10:35
there any 'cause obviously it's not whole blood that you're
10:37
donating. So I don't know if it's, it's
10:38
not the same thing. Is is there any kind of health
10:41
benefit to donating plasma? There is, there is a health
10:44
benefit. I mean, you know, checking your
10:47
proteins every four months, you know, make sure those are good
10:50
'cause it's the main part of the plasma, you know, you have to
10:55
eat right, hydrate that, that kind of stuff like that, you
10:59
know, that helps make your experience better.
11:02
It's definitely a health benefit too.
11:04
And you know, like I always like a joke is it's like no will
11:07
change because, you know, you're kind of just like recycling it
11:09
out because you're going to build it back up.
11:11
So, you know, yeah, but those are those are the few things I
11:14
think that are the health benefits would donate and.
11:16
Yeah, I feel like that was part of what I had read when about
11:19
the don't the benefits of donating blood was the process
11:23
of losing it and then it forces your body to make more.
11:26
There's there's something good about that for you.
11:28
I'm not sure what it is, but it's it's really interesting,
11:32
yeah. So, but, you know, to to get
11:35
started to donate plasma, yeah, you know, we take walk-ins for
11:39
new donors. You have to have picture ID
11:43
that's not expired, of course, proof of Social Security, you
11:46
know, Social Security card or picture of it.
11:48
And then we had to have proof of address, something that's
11:51
postmarked through the mail in the last 60 days, you know, and
11:55
then the process of going through, you know, we check your
11:58
vitals every time. So, you know, that's another
12:01
health benefit is, you know, especially if you're tracking
12:03
blood pressure. Yeah, stuff like that.
12:04
Your blood pressure. And Yep, and then we also do a
12:08
medical examination. It's kind of like a physical.
12:11
It's definitely more entailed than what you would get at your
12:14
doctor. You know, most physicals you go
12:18
into and the doctor doesn't even touch you, you know, but you
12:21
know, we check, you know everything to rule people out,
12:24
make sure we're, we're capturing those healthy people and you
12:27
know, the eligible people. So let's talk about the process.
12:31
So I know you said they come in, you know there is a screening
12:34
process involved. You want to make sure people are
12:37
healthy enough to donate blood or plasma.
12:40
I'm sorry. And then I saw some like, I
12:43
don't know, screens, iPads or something out in the they like
12:47
check in. So they come in after their, you
12:50
know, their first visit. When they come back as what we
12:52
call return donors, they go to the kiosk and that's where they
12:56
answer the questionnaire. They answer the questionnaire
12:59
and then once they're done, they have a seat over there and then
13:02
they're waiting to be screened. Now, sometimes, depending on how
13:07
they respond to their questions, it could force them over to a
13:09
medical evaluation. One of our nurses would have to
13:13
address 1 of their questions for their questionnaire.
13:16
But then after that they go through, they get screened.
13:20
You know, we checked their vitals, blood pressure, pulse,
13:25
we checked their total protein every visit.
13:28
We checked their hematocrit, which is a quick way of checking
13:31
basically their iron. You know, we're checking a
13:33
percentage of red blood cells to plasma and then we're checking
13:37
white, of course. And yeah, then once they're done
13:41
with that, as long as everything passes with that, they are good
13:44
to go to the donation floor and then they'll get hooked up.
13:48
Hooked up? Yeah, lay down on the bed on
13:49
those nice comfy beds out there and and hang out for 45 minutes.
13:53
Yep. So it's a pretty easy process.
13:55
It's a pretty easy process. You know, like I said, that what
14:00
I see from my experience the most is people don't hydrate
14:03
enough. So, you know, they don't have
14:06
most pleasant experience. So we've been really pushing
14:09
with the donors to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
14:12
You know, it's like I tell donors all the time I'm like, I
14:14
don't know why my machine's not working.
14:15
And you look, I mean, you can tell somebody's blood if it's
14:18
hydrated or not. And you know, and you try to try
14:21
to counsel. Those people like comes out like
14:23
Stew. Yeah.
14:24
Comes out, looks black as tar. Oh, really?
14:27
Yeah, it looks really dark. Yeah, when they're not hydrated.
14:30
That's wow. Drink water, folks.
14:32
But yeah, we can also tell when, like, we're palpating your veins
14:35
before we stick you how hydrated you are.
14:37
So that's what I try to tell people's water, water, water.
14:39
That's the best thing, you know, And eat and rot before you come
14:42
in. Don't sit down and shout out at
14:44
McDonald's before you. You come in and donate.
14:46
Yeah. Yeah, I imagine that's not good
14:49
for your blood plasma. No, no, because I've been, I've
14:54
seen it before where people get stuck and we call it Lepena
14:58
plasma, the fat in the plasma and it just, it looks like milk.
15:02
Really. Yep.
15:03
That's gross. Yeah, it is kind of gross.
15:06
That is wild. Yep.
15:08
So you don't, you know, you wouldn't think about it until,
15:10
you know, we can go and we spin it down.
15:11
I mean, I've seen them. So I'm just Milky white.
15:13
And it's like, what have you been eating?
15:15
Wow. You know, fast food, fried
15:17
stuff. It's like, yeah.
15:18
If you need another reason not to eat that stuff, OK.
15:21
Right, exactly. Oh, jeez, So I have so many
15:28
questions. I well, 'cause it's, you know
15:31
what, I was looking at it before and you know, I guess you don't
15:34
really, there's so many industries out there in the
15:36
business community that you don't really consider or think
15:39
of, right? And then you don't think of what
15:40
happens downstream, right? So it's like, so if I what I
15:44
read, if I'm correct in what I understood of what I read was
15:48
you guys essentially buy the plasma from the donors and then
15:52
you do you do some sort of manufacturing to it here at this
15:56
facility before it leaves the facility.
15:58
So we don't pay them for the plasma, we compensate them for
16:01
their time of donation. All right, so that's.
16:05
Fair. So yeah, we we compensate them
16:08
for their time of going through the process.
16:11
The only other thing we do on site is we draw testing tubes
16:15
off each unit. We draw like 3 or 4 samples off
16:18
every unit. But then once you know we send
16:22
those samples out and everything tests OK, then we ship it to our
16:25
customer. Now our customer will take it,
16:28
which we, we sell most of fractionation plants, they'll
16:31
take it and we don't type blood or anything here because all the
16:36
plasma basically they take, you know, they chop the tops off of
16:40
them and dump them all in a big, a big VAT and then shoot it
16:43
through the fractionation plant and break pull the proteins they
16:46
want from it. So it's a pretty interesting
16:49
process, yeah. It like I'd never heard of a
16:52
fractionation plant before today and I was looking at that stuff
16:56
right. I'm like, I don't even know what
16:57
that is or what it does. So.
16:59
But from your explanation it sounds like fractionation, like
17:01
they're breaking up the plasma. They're breaking up the plasma
17:04
and making, you know, the certain medications that can be
17:06
made for from it. So it's gone right to like we'll
17:09
say I I read your biggest buyer starts with the G it's
17:15
pharmaceutical. Griffles.
17:17
Yeah. Griffles.
17:18
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So like a lot of it goes to
17:20
Griffles. Yep.
17:21
And then they take it and they separate it.
17:23
Yep. And then they're either creating
17:25
a medication with it or I they're made Is is do they sell
17:30
some of it off too, like the stuff that they're not using or
17:32
is it? I think they honestly, I think
17:35
they use it all to be they use it all.
17:36
Yeah, all into the medication. I know we just did a shipment
17:39
today. So it it once it leaves here, it
17:41
all goes to Griffles in North Carolina and then, you know,
17:44
they break it down and make it into the drugs that that they
17:47
manufacture. When you ship it, it's still a
17:50
liquid form, right? That's first a solid.
17:52
So what is? Once we draw the samples and
17:55
everything in it, we have freezers that run anywhere
17:58
between -35 to -38°C and. What the hell is that,
18:03
Fahrenheit? I actually think it's the same.
18:06
Is it? I think when you translate it
18:08
over it's exact same temp. It's right there in that range
18:10
where they kind of line up. But yeah, it's super cold.
18:15
It only takes our freezers here like 5 hours to core freeze a
18:19
whole 800 milliliter bottle of plasma.
18:23
Yeah, so but we let it sit in the freezer so we we get to play
18:26
in the cold a lot. Yeah.
18:28
So it's nice. I can't find.
18:29
A winter coats out bad. I know, right?
18:33
And I know everybody, I couldn't do a conversion from Fahrenheit
18:36
to Celsius, but I standard metric.
18:38
I, you know, I, I have never taken the time to understand the
18:42
metric system. I'm sorry.
18:43
I still have to break out a calculator to convert miles into
18:46
kilometers. I've got to, you know, ask
18:48
Google to tell me what Celsius is to convert from Fahrenheit.
18:52
I know there's a formula. Sorry, guys.
18:56
So how much do you actually ship out to North Carolina?
18:58
Like do you wait till you hit a certain weight and then you ship
19:01
or do you just do a time ship? Ideally we like to ship every
19:05
every two weeks. Usually we want to hit 60 cases
19:11
normally, you know, before we ship out so, so, but here
19:16
lately, you know, it seems like it's been every two to three
19:19
weeks, every two to three weeks. So that's been good for us
19:22
because we just started to back up shipping again, so.
19:25
Yeah. Have you, you know, one of the
19:29
things that I was looking at for your locations is number one,
19:34
you, you know, the good to the community, right?
19:36
Outside of the fact that you're, you're a service, right, 'cause
19:41
I we'd consider you a service, right?
19:43
That is getting plasma into the hands of people that can do
19:48
things with it to help other people, right?
19:49
So, you know, net benefit of what you do is good, right?
19:54
You know, obviously you're buying local.
19:55
We're we're hyper focused on local, local, local.
19:58
So you know, impact to the local community.
20:00
What, aside from how many people do you employ?
20:04
Right now we have 11 people left only, but I'm in the process of
20:09
trying to hire a couple more people.
20:11
Yeah, for sure. I mean, 1111 is substantial.
20:13
I mean, I think, you know, a lot of small businesses.
20:15
I mean, I have 5 employees and that seems like a lot some days.
20:18
So except for you, Taylor, that's our podcast producers.
20:22
That's going to be listening to. This, but no managing and doing
20:25
all the things just for the few employees I have.
20:27
So like, I hear 11 employees. I'm like, oh, that sounds like a
20:29
lot to me. Yeah.
20:32
So you help 11 families locally, support themselves?
20:35
Yep. Feed themselves, clothe
20:36
themselves, all that fun stuff. But are, are there other impacts
20:41
locally as far as what Immunotech does?
20:44
Because I feel like I read that there was like other.
20:45
Impacts local. Oh, most definitely the
20:48
compensation to the donors, you know, I'd say, I know we were,
20:53
was looking at the other day, you know, over $1,000,000 in
20:58
donor compensations paid out, you know, in a year's time.
21:00
And that that's money that's being used in the community.
21:03
Yeah, that's going directly, you know.
21:05
That's a lot of money. There's a lot of money, you
21:08
know, and then like I said, we've been here 2 years and
21:10
that's not even including like any facility repairs, you know,
21:14
stuff like that. I know when we opened up two
21:16
years ago, I mean that was over $5,000,000 and you know,
21:20
facilities remodeling because I think this used to be an Aldi's
21:23
I. I was going to say that and for
21:25
the folks. Everybody says that I'm just
21:26
like, OK, cool. For the kids at home, we're
21:28
sitting in the old ALDI over here on Quaker.
21:30
Road so I've had some people come in and it's like oh
21:32
remember coming here and it's like.
21:33
OK, yeah, man, we love ALDI $1,000,000 back to donors
21:40
that's. Yeah.
21:41
That's a fair amount of money, man, to be putting.
21:43
Back a lot of money in community, back in the
21:45
community, so, you know, and they're using that, you know,
21:48
live groceries, yeah. Anything pay bills, anything
21:51
like that, yeah, you know, it's needed.
21:54
Most definitely. It's so wild, Like I, I think
21:59
I've said this on every podcast I've been on in the last month,
22:02
but I'm always fascinated by businesses that are able to have
22:07
these models that it's like a lot of businesses, the way that
22:10
we view them as we, we sell a product or service, we take
22:13
money in, right? That's where it ends, right.
22:17
But then I always use the example of like the tree guys,
22:19
the tree services or, you know, like they, they come in to chop
22:23
down the tree and then they're like, hey, do you want me to
22:25
chip up those limbs for you? And like, yeah.
22:27
And then it's like, well, do you want me to take the, the chips
22:30
out of here? There's a fee for that.
22:32
So they get paid to remove the chips and then they sell the
22:35
chips and they get paid again. And so, so on business models
22:38
like that, it just is always fascinating to me.
22:40
I'm like, wow, that is smart, smart business because it's good
22:44
for everybody and it helps those businesses stay financially
22:47
viable. And, and when you're doing
22:51
something or like McDonald's, right, where we, I, you know,
22:54
we, I just talked about this might have been on buying local
22:57
or might have been blue collar, but it's, it was blue collar.
23:00
But, you know, like with McDonald's, we always think
23:02
about what their business is like, well, they sell burgers,
23:05
but it's like, yeah, but there's a whole distribution food
23:07
distribution business that's behind that, that sells that
23:10
food to the individual locations.
23:13
And so it's like the, the organization itself has all
23:16
these different streams of income.
23:20
And so it's always fascinating to hear about like how
23:23
businesses work or like in this case, it's like you almost have,
23:27
obviously you can't call them employees, but the donors that
23:29
come in, you know, I mean, they almost work for you, right?
23:31
They come in, they give you their time, they get compensated
23:33
for it. It's putting more money back out
23:35
in the community, right? It's it's pretty wild.
23:38
A lot of them think they do. And you know that every year
23:41
around tax time and everybody's like, hey, I never got AW 2.
23:43
And I'm like, you're not. An employee.
23:46
You're like your donor like. Yeah.
23:48
And so you don't have to like do 1090 nines for these folks or
23:51
anything like that. There's.
23:52
No tax expert. So yeah, you know, I'm not 100%
23:55
sure I'm sure. I'm sure if you did that,
23:58
Immunitech Corporate would be having to do it, I'm sure.
24:01
Yeah, they would. They want to keep their IS
24:03
dotted and T's crossed for sure because they have how many
24:06
locations? We have 16 across 12 states
24:10
right now. Yeah, we're corporate
24:12
headquarters is based in South Lake, Texas, right outside
24:15
Dallas area. OK.
24:17
So we have numerous locations. That's one of our things with
24:22
our company is we open develop centers and then we'll sell them
24:26
to people like you said earlier, like Griffles.
24:29
I know last year at the beginning of this year, we sold
24:34
over 20 centers to Griffles. Oh wow.
24:36
So that's kind of our been our bread and butters opening
24:38
centers, selling them to the bigger players in the plasma
24:41
game. To other revenue stream like
24:43
that hidden business model that just makes so much sense and
24:47
it's I mean I can imagine so like you said cost about
24:50
$5,000,000 to open up this facility.
24:53
I know the research I did it said that on average it takes
24:55
about 5 to $10 million to open up a new center so much.
24:58
Overhead. Yeah.
24:59
Well, I mean the construction costs alone, right.
25:01
And I would imagine you are probably on the lower side
25:04
because you rehabbed or refabbed an existing building, so you
25:08
didn't have to do the exterior building, the foundation and all
25:11
that stuff that goes along with it.
25:12
So, but in some cases they're spending $10 million to go from
25:17
nothing to something, but then they operate it, they get it up
25:20
and running and then they sell it off, I imagine for a pretty
25:24
penny. I would have hoped so.
25:27
But yeah, but but wild to me that, you know, from a business
25:30
standpoint is just, it's really cool because it's like, all
25:33
right, now they're not just in the, the plasma business now
25:36
they're kind of in the, the business, you know, they're,
25:39
they're literally creating a business, building that business
25:42
up and then selling that business off for a profit, which
25:45
is, you know, almost every business owner's dream.
25:47
You know, like that's what the the goal typically is, right?
25:50
Is I build a business, sometimes it takes 20 years.
25:52
You guys are doing it. You've got a beautiful system
25:53
that allows you to do it in just a few years.
25:57
It's really cool. Yeah, yeah.
25:59
We've, I know. I used to work on the new center
26:02
development side before this position, so I know took a lot
26:06
of pride and open incentives and training those staff.
26:08
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
26:10
And it's, I mean, again, to your point from before, it's from a
26:14
local impact. If you're doing a $10 million
26:16
build out on a brand new center or even a 5 million refab, like
26:20
right, that's a lot of money into the community.
26:23
Exactly. Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
26:25
So in in this community, which I'm not used to, the smaller
26:29
town, you know, being from Knoxville, bigger area.
26:34
Well, all the other areas I've lived, I've always lived in the
26:36
bigger area. But here it's funny, I don't
26:39
know if it's just New York or but like I've had people that
26:44
like have no clue about plasma donations, which is amazing me,
26:48
you know, coming from the South, like it's common knowledge and.
26:51
Everybody knows. Not everybody knows about it,
26:53
you know, but up here it's, you know, just trying to spread the
26:56
word and get people, you know, in the mindset.
26:59
And like a lot of people know, don't know we're here and that
27:03
we compensate them for their time while donating, you know
27:07
which, you know, there's a lot of people out there that donate,
27:11
you know, was it every eight weeks?
27:13
We need to do whole blood and stuff like that.
27:15
You know, we're here, too. You can compensate you for your
27:18
time while you're donating. Yeah, that's pretty cool.
27:20
Extra money in your pocket. Yeah.
27:21
Well, that's again, and maybe I said this before, but when I was
27:24
reading about, you know, kind of some of the things that you did
27:28
and I was like supplemental income.
27:29
I'm like, how much? But I mean, I would definitely
27:32
consider $900 a month supplemental income.
27:34
Yeah, no, most definitely. That's a fair amount of money.
27:36
Yeah, definitely. You know, especially it's a car
27:39
payment, Yeah. It is a car payment and and a
27:43
little leftover. Hopefully, yeah, hopefully cost,
27:46
cost of cars these days. Go see, go see Larry Brown over
27:50
at Jerry or Jerry Brown over at Brown Brothers Automotive.
27:53
Sorry, Larry. They've got some great cars that
27:56
are affordable. They're not a paid advertiser,
27:57
by the way. I just really like Larry and I
28:01
bought a truck from those guys recently and it was affordable,
28:03
which was nice. So nothing but good, good stuff
28:07
to say about those guys. Right, So, all right, so lots of
28:12
community impact, which obviously we love that.
28:15
And you're talking about this area.
28:17
I, I had never heard of plasma donation either.
28:19
So when I first heard about Immunotech, I thought it was
28:22
like donating blood. And then when I started research
28:25
for the show, I was like, wait, plasma?
28:27
I'm like, oh, maybe that's just 'cause you know, terms these
28:30
days everybody's got to use certain terms for certain
28:32
things. So I'm like, well, maybe it's
28:33
just some sort of faux pas now to call it blood as opposed to,
28:37
but it's a completely different process.
28:38
Completely different process, whole different part of the the
28:41
blood that we're taking of the whole blood.
28:44
And you get to keep your white cells and your red cells.
28:46
And your platelets. And your platelets.
28:47
What's very important so and clot.
28:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We need those.
28:51
You need to be able. To clot need those interesting
28:53
that they, I know we were talking about some of the uses
28:58
for the plasma that you're getting is for clotting
29:01
disorders for hemophiliacs. So interesting to me that the
29:04
platelets are removed and not used in that process.
29:09
Yeah. There's a certain protein that
29:11
they take from the plasma, the coagulants that they take from
29:18
it. Yeah.
29:19
Is part of it. No, I mean, we're not probably
29:22
able to get all the platelets out of that plasma, I would say.
29:25
But yeah, we use what was it the C1 estertacin inhibitor probably
29:32
has totally butchered that, but that's.
29:34
Fine, it's way over my head, you know, right?
29:37
But that's a certain protein that they used that they target
29:40
to treat those hemophiliacs. Interesting.
29:43
OK, so it's really cool. So you've been here since
29:47
January, Immunotech's been here for two years.
29:51
What's the the long term play like?
29:52
Will will Immunotech look to build the store up and then sell
29:56
it off? Or is it a longer term play or
29:58
how does that? Is there even a strategy for it?
30:03
I wouldn't say there was a strategy right now is just I
30:05
want to collect as much plasma that we can get to help help the
30:10
patients, you know, people with those certain, with those
30:13
certain medications that they take and stuff like that.
30:17
You know, it's just to collect as much and try to get as many
30:19
donors through the door that kept us out while we're while
30:23
we're helping them out. Yeah, yeah.
30:24
What? What do you think the biggest
30:26
challenge is to getting donors in the door?
30:28
I would say our hours right now, but we're, you know, as I get
30:33
more people on, we're going to be looking to expand.
30:36
I mean, right now we're Tuesday through Saturday, 7:00 to 2:00
30:38
PM. You know, I get a lot of donors
30:42
in the middle of the day, you know, I'm sure if I was to stay
30:45
open after, you know, 3/4, 5:00 PM or later, you know, I would
30:50
catch those people. They're getting off work.
30:54
But you know, also the location here, we don't get a lot of foot
30:57
traffic at right here at this location at Quaker Rd., you
31:01
know, but I know we do get a lot of cars to drive by, but.
31:05
Yeah, it's a busy Rd. Yeah, you know, so and I think
31:09
it's a lot of people just don't know we're here or I mean, I've
31:12
even had people, you know, like, are y'all open?
31:14
I'm like, Oh yeah, please, we're open.
31:16
Please come donate. I'll pay you.
31:18
Yeah, you know. It's funny, I'll pay you to come
31:21
hang out with me. I'll.
31:22
Pay you to donate plasma so you know, but you know, you actually
31:25
got to get through the process, get stuck with the needle to get
31:28
paid. You know, I think a lot of
31:30
donors think they just get compensated for coming in and
31:32
Tron, but you've actually got to get through the process.
31:35
Unfortunately, you know before you know and actually donate
31:38
some plasma before we would compensate you.
31:41
Is there, do you have to go through the process every time
31:44
you come in or is it just you come to the once and then you're
31:47
in the system and you just kind of show up?
31:49
So yeah, your first time's a little bit longer 'cause you got
31:52
to have the physical, but then after that you just you make an
31:55
appointment. We take appointments for our
31:57
return donors. New donors would take walk
31:59
insurance, but return donors come in, they go to the kiosk,
32:02
they get screened. That process is the same every
32:05
time they come in. Now that they will have their
32:08
physical or medical evaluation, it's yearly, that's been done
32:11
every year. So they'll do that once and
32:14
then, you know, once they come in.
32:15
I mean, it usually only takes to get through your questionnaire
32:18
and screening process, maybe 10 to 15 minutes and then you
32:22
should be on the donor floor and be getting stuck.
32:24
So like an hour. Yep.
32:26
Hour out of your day. That's idea, you know, try to
32:29
value all our donors time when they come in.
32:32
Yeah. You know, some, some days are
32:33
harder than others, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:39
So what does it equate to? Like I know it depends on how
32:41
big you are, small you are weight and that stuff, but like
32:44
is it like 50 bucks an hour? Yeah, something like that.
32:51
It all depends on because I know my Max weight can make 120 a
32:55
week. Doing 2 donations.
32:58
Doing 2 donations 60. Bucks a pop, that's still good
33:01
money. 60 bucks an hour, yeah. So, you know, if we can get you
33:04
through an hour, yeah, like, you know, the biggest thing is
33:07
hydration. Like, yeah, I've said three, six
33:11
times already. Yeah, yeah, you know, that's
33:13
going to make it. I mean, I've seen people and
33:16
mostly it's the smaller women, you know, that can do it.
33:20
I've I've one girl the other day, I think it did a donation
33:22
like 32 minutes. So I was like, oh, wow.
33:24
It's like it's super quick, but you know, typically you know
33:30
somebody about massage, you know, I'm pretty big guy, you
33:33
know, maybe 45 minutes to an hour, you know, once again.
33:37
It's just because you're given more.
33:39
Right. Given more, there's also other
33:41
factors like hematocrit like hydration, of course.
33:45
Did I drink hydration? Hydration.
33:47
Listen to them. Drink your water.
33:48
Drink your water, maybe a little salt.
33:52
You absorb that water. So, but yeah, it all varies from
33:58
personal. It also varies how good your
34:01
veins are, you know, like, you know, we can only work with what
34:05
you're bringing and getting at the best veins.
34:07
Sometimes we can make it work, sometimes we can't.
34:09
But also, you know, if we're having a fiddle with the needle,
34:13
yeah, quite often during the process, that's going to of
34:15
course add some time to to your donation because everybody
34:18
sometimes we might have to re stick you, you know, especially
34:22
to give your red blood cells back, you know, for safety,
34:25
safety factor. But but yeah, there's just so
34:28
many different factors that play into how quick you can donate.
34:31
Yeah, it's a it really is fascinating.
34:35
I the whole thing is just. It is interesting to.
34:38
Me, I know I got it into it as a college student and absolutely
34:41
nothing was just like, what is this?
34:43
And college friend that was like, Hey, you want to, you
34:45
know, look for a job. You're, you know, I was in
34:47
college from like Lincoln Medical, you know, with my
34:51
career and stuff. And yeah, I got into it and just
34:54
loved it. And I was like, that's so
34:56
interesting, you know? Never.
34:57
Thought, yeah, again, like I said, I not to repeat myself,
35:01
which I often do, but I, I had no idea there was a difference
35:05
between donating plasma and donating blood.
35:07
So yeah, Yeah. It's wild.
35:11
What? Now?
35:13
You said, you know, you're open seven to two, which is still a
35:17
pretty good stretch. I mean, it's 7 hours good chunk
35:20
of the day. Is it?
35:21
Is it just because of you've got to keep people to 8 hours a day,
35:25
you know that kind of thing, 40 hours a week, or what's keeping
35:28
you from making the jump to staying open later?
35:33
Well, I've got to get a couple more staff, of course, to be
35:37
able to do that Also, you know, finished training up my
35:41
supervisor. So it ain't just me.
35:44
Yeah. So that's kind of the factors
35:46
are playing into it. But once all that that happens
35:48
comes together, we're going to be looking at expanding the
35:51
hours of the center so. Are you managing all 11 people
35:54
yourself right now? Yep, this is small center I've
35:56
ever managed. So I'm usually manage.
35:58
I've worked for numerous competitors so they say my first
36:02
plasma center. So the last plasma center I ran
36:04
I had 50 staff so wow. That's a lot of people to manage
36:07
for one person. So yeah, no, I've been doing it
36:11
for a while, so. Yeah, got it.
36:14
And I mean again, from the sounds of things, they must have
36:16
Immunotech must have some great systems in place that they've
36:19
created to help running of the business.
36:21
We do and then, you know, really come in.
36:22
My staff have a great staff. I tell them that all the time.
36:26
They probably think I'm crazy, but like really the staff that I
36:29
have here and you know, they're all from this area, you know,
36:32
speaks a lot of. Great people that lives around.
36:34
Here for sure, you know, dealt with, you know, and they think
36:37
I'm crazy when I say that, but I'm just like, y'all don't
36:39
understand when I've had to deal with staffing loss, you know?
36:42
Yeah, so you know. Do you find coming from down
36:46
South? So years ago when I was like
36:50
2021 years ago. You're going with this?
36:52
I Well, so I moved from New York down to Florida and there was a
36:58
group of us, I think it was like 5 or 6 of us that went down
37:01
there and we, I walked into a restaurant, filled out a job
37:06
application. The guy looked at it, he's like,
37:08
you're from New York. And I was like, Yep, he goes,
37:10
you're hired. And the reason he had told me
37:13
for that was because people from New York move so much faster
37:18
than people down South. Yeah.
37:19
And I'm just wondering if you have seen that same thing when
37:23
coming up north. Do you feel, do you find that
37:25
the people up north and and nothing again, it's completely
37:28
nothing against people down South.
37:29
It's just a different way of life.
37:30
But I yeah, have you noticed that, that people up here moving
37:34
faster? They definitely talk faster,
37:37
that's for sure. Yes, we definitely moving
37:39
faster, I'd say, you know, for me, from what I've seen, it's
37:44
about the same because this is the fourth state I've lived in.
37:47
So I've lived in the South, lived in the Midwest now, you
37:50
know, living in the Northeast. So all places in the regions
37:53
I've lived, it all seems to be the same.
37:57
It's the mentality of people and, you know, worth that thick.
38:01
Yeah, for sure is different. Oh yeah, yeah, so, but you know,
38:07
compared to because I've ran the center in North Carolina, but it
38:12
was interesting to say the least.
38:16
Stefan Wise had some characters, not so nice characters.
38:20
That's unfortunate. But now the staff here, they
38:25
show up on time, they're great, they're friendly.
38:27
You know, I always joke when I'm interviewing people.
38:30
It's kind of like a bar. Like you see these people twice
38:32
a week, they come in, they hang out, you chat with them for an
38:35
hour while. They're there.
38:36
So you end up being like no one people's whole life stories and
38:39
everything that's going on in their life.
38:40
So, you know, kind of build a relationship with the donors
38:43
too. So, so I always just tell people
38:45
it's like like being a bartender, that's funny.
38:48
Get to hear all the stuff. You get to hear all the the
38:50
stuff, even the stuff you don't want to hear about, I'm sure.
38:56
What? I just had a question within it.
39:01
I was, it made me think about back when I was a bartender.
39:03
I know exactly what you're saying, like, but you still got
39:08
to listen, you know, you still got to have the conversations.
39:11
Yeah. As far as, oh, that's what I was
39:13
going to ask you about as far as like, so you've got a great
39:16
staff. What, what does your hiring
39:18
process look like? Because I know that's always a,
39:20
a challenge for businesses, especially small business owners
39:22
that don't, haven't done a lot of, a lot of hiring.
39:25
And so a, a decent hiring process I have found has always
39:29
been very helpful to make to ensure that you get the right
39:31
staff and that they're, they're great.
39:33
Yeah. So that's one thing great, great
39:36
about Immunotech here is we have a whole talent acquisition
39:40
department that does all my pre screening, the posting of the
39:43
jobs, the finding of the applicants, you know, we have
39:47
calls like, you know, let him know what I'm what I'm looking
39:51
for, you know, stuff like that, which takes a lot off my plate.
39:56
And my TA person, he does a great job with TA talent
40:02
acquisition. So they he does a pretty good
40:05
job with sending me some great candidates.
40:07
So, you know, right now I'm trying to hire a nurse and then
40:12
we're trying to hire a donor center technician.
40:15
So trying to fill those two positions and slowly getting the
40:19
interviews in. But that's one thing I had to
40:21
say about Immunotech is that whole hiring process and you
40:25
know, having that one person that's just doing the finding
40:28
and stuff like that and like work on finding candidates
40:31
really great because. Do you know if they're using
40:35
like Indeed or where they're doing their job placements to
40:38
get that initial influx of candidates?
40:41
Think they're using indeed, I'm not 100% sure, but I think I'm
40:46
pretty sure, you know, I think it is indeed that he's, he's
40:49
utilizing because I know sometimes if we don't have any
40:52
applicants, he'll do he'll do a candidate search and reach out
40:56
through that way. I get that question all the time
40:58
from people. They're like, where?
40:58
Where do I find I'm like, I don't know, I'm like.
41:01
We use indeed, that's always our first.
41:03
Entry, right? Yeah, I mean, I know in my
41:05
previous life I've used, you know, those, those programs.
41:08
Indeed. And like, what is it, Zipper?
41:10
Herd Zip Recruiter. Yep.
41:12
So, but I do know they use Indeed for sure.
41:17
Other than that, it's just them, you know, putting it out there
41:20
helping people apply or, you know, doing candidate searches
41:23
online. Yeah.
41:24
And then once, once you get those people in, sounds like
41:28
you've already, you know, you got them screened down.
41:30
So you maybe you start with 100 candidates, you're down to 20 or
41:32
whatever it is, right? Do you do, are you a single
41:35
interview, multi interview? Like what does that process look
41:38
like for you? Most of the time I will have, I
41:41
have a quality manager, Linda. She's she will sit in with me
41:48
for those interviews. So it's just usually just me and
41:51
her. Now, if I'm hiring a nurse, I'll
41:53
have my medical supervisor, Candy, sit in with that me on
41:56
that one, just because you know, she's going to be responsible
42:00
for their training and, you know, reporting to her.
42:03
Want to make sure they get along?
42:05
So, and you know, she's been a nurse, unlike me, so, but that
42:10
also helps too. That helps, yeah.
42:11
Get her feedback on, on any of these candidates.
42:13
And sometimes she knows them. Yeah, I mean, it's a small,
42:17
small. Community, it is a very small
42:18
yeah. I'm starting to realize that I'm
42:20
just like, oh, everybody knows everybody.
42:23
Yeah, I didn't realize, which is great.
42:25
I I, it's one of the things I love about living here.
42:28
I mean, you know, you said earlier like it is a different,
42:31
this part of the country is very different than a lot of other.
42:34
Parts of the country, so is. And we're for so many reasons,
42:37
you know, economically we're insulated from a lot of stresses
42:41
and factors that happen in other parts of the country.
42:44
And, but just, I think Warren, Washington and Saratoga County
42:48
specifically, it's just, we've just got a vibe and it's, I
42:52
think an overall good vibe and a +1 and, and for the most part,
42:56
people are good and nice. And yeah, I know.
42:59
I was about to say, you know, everybody talks about, you know,
43:01
how nice people are in the South.
43:03
I mean, I and then I've before I moved up in here, moved up here,
43:09
you know, I had somebody out somewhere and they're like, oh,
43:13
I'm from the north and they're just not mean and ugly.
43:15
And I'm just like, that's not been to my experience.
43:17
Yeah, not up here, not in this. Part of the country, you know
43:20
and I'd already been up here for like 2 weeks at that time when I
43:22
went back so. But yeah, everybody's been super
43:24
nice, you know, place I live over off aviation and like all
43:28
my neighbors are really cool. Yeah.
43:30
You know, not was I expected coming from the South.
43:34
But overall it's beautiful area. I mean, super clean.
43:39
It's one thing that amazes, amazes me is how clean this area
43:42
is. Yeah, compared to the South.
43:46
Parts of it anyway, right? Yeah, there's Yep.
43:48
So, but yeah, no, it's just it's a great community and I know
43:53
once we can get more donors out and everything like that, you
43:57
know, it's a great donor base that's here, yeah, that we're
44:00
definitely trying to tap into. Well, hopefully you know we can
44:04
help with that in some small way.
44:05
Anyway, you know, again, I looking at everything that you
44:08
guys are doing as an organization, it seems like
44:10
you're doing a lot of great work, positive impact on local
44:14
community, positive impact on the country at large with what
44:17
you do and, and what, where the plasma goes and what it's used
44:20
for that's not used for nefarious activities.
44:24
You know, it's all good stuff and it's help helping sick
44:28
people get medications they need.
44:29
So it's it's great. It must be good to, you know,
44:33
feel good to be a part of an organization that's a good
44:35
organization. That's one of the reasons why
44:37
I've stayed in this industry for so long.
44:38
Yeah. You know, it's just the simple
44:40
fact that, you know, I'm doing something every day that's
44:42
helping someone and they're finding something new every day
44:46
for conditions that you never would thought that they, you
44:49
know, I'll give one example as my grandmother had Massena
44:52
Gravis. Well, when she had it, there was
44:54
no drugs, there was nothing, no cure anything.
44:56
Now we've got drugs from strictly from plasma drugs.
44:59
Oh, no kidding. So, you know, so definitely
45:02
doing some great work in in this industry.
45:06
Well, I mean, I'll just speak for everybody whether they like
45:09
or not, but thanks for the great work you're doing and thanks for
45:12
coming on the show. I really appreciate for having
45:14
me man, let me. Employees, you're managing you,
45:16
you know, you got a lot going on here and I really appreciate the
45:19
time and appreciate coming on. So thank you.
45:21
Yeah, if, if people want to learn more about Immunotech, if
45:24
they want to potentially become a donor, if they want to
45:28
potentially work here, how do they find you guys?
45:31
So yeah, if you're looking for a job, immunotech.com, that's one
45:36
way donation wise, you can either call us here at the
45:39
center at 518-480-2971 or you can contact us through the
45:45
website and then we'll reach back out to you.
45:48
But other than that, we're open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:00
45:51
to 2:00 PM. And if you're new donor looking
45:53
to donate, just come by and see us.
45:55
Nice walk in's welcome, huh? Yep, walk in's welcome.
45:58
Just make sure you got that picture ID that's not expired.
46:00
Proof of Social Security and proof of address.
46:03
Something postmarked in the last 60 days.
46:05
Awesome. Thanks, man.
46:06
I appreciate coming on. By the way, I just are you a
46:09
bless your heart guy? No, I'm not.
46:11
You're not a bless your heart guy.
46:12
No. It's like my my whole life I've
46:16
wished that I was from the South so I could use bless your.
46:18
Heart. Bless your heart, it's the best
46:19
thing. I'm not.
46:21
There has been situations I've used it, of course.
46:23
It's like you can insult someone and so long as you say bless
46:27
your heart, it's still OK. It's the most amazing thing.
46:30
Like I've had it done to me and I was like, wow, they just
46:33
insulted me. But it sounded so nice.
46:38
So no, never been a bless your. All right, that's fine.
46:40
I had to ask with that accent. Well, everyone, thank you so
46:47
much for listening. You know, of course, you can
46:49
find us on buying local dot US and you can hear us on Apple
46:54
podcast, Spotify, and then of course, the video versions on
46:57
YouTube and rumble. Thanks for listening everybody,
47:00
and you'll hear from us next week.