New Healthcare Center Comes To Mentor

Baxter Healthcare Corp. will be constructing a 15,000-square-foot BioLife Plasma Services Center at 5656 Emerald Court that is expected to create up to 70 new jobs.

The Mentor center, set to open in summer 2012, will house medical equipment, offices and 72 beds for plasma donors. Baxter Healthcare is scheduled to hold a groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 21.

The center will collect plasma from qualified individuals who will be compensated.  The plasma is used to produce various medical therapies for patients with hemophilia, autoimmune deficiency disorders, pulmonary deficiencies and for surgical and emergency-room patients.

Kellie Hotz, a Baxter spokesperson, said the BioLife Center in Mentor was selected based on its local population, local support, donor population and other proprietary criteria.

“We have three other BioLife Centers in Ohio (Findlay, Lima and Middleton) and we would like to continue to build our presence in the state,” she said. “BioLife donors mirror the demographics of the communities in which the center is located. The majority of donors live within seven miles of the center and range between 20 and 35 years old.”

Because the need to produce these life-saving therapies is constant,  there is a big need for plasma donors, according to Baxter, which operates 60 BioLife Plasma Centers across the U.S.

Plasma is the yellow liquid portion of a person’s blood that is made up of water and proteins that help the body control bleeding and infections. Through  a process called plasmapherisis, the blood is extracted from the donor who is connected to an automated, sterile system that separates the blood and plasma. The blood is returned to the patient’s body.

A Baxter Healthcare video, "Experience the Plasma Donation Process," shows how donors are screened for eligibility, how plasma is extracted from the blood and other information.

Several weeks before the Mentor Biolife Center opens, Baxter will be interviewing job applicants for a variety of full- and part-time medical service positions such as phlebotomists, nurses, technicians, managers and supervisors.