DES MOINES, Iowa -- An Iowa-based blood bank is asking people who've had COVID-19 to donate blood.
LifeServe Blood Center is looking for plasma from those who've recovered from the the virus.
"In the last 14 days we have seen a huge spike in requests for convalescent plasma. It's really going to wipe out our inventory if we don't ramp up our collections" says LifeServe's Danielle West.
COVID convalescent plasma from those who've recovered from the virus is used to treat those who are hospitalized with it.
She says this month has seen the highest COVID plasma use since the beginning of the pandemic.
"We've never seen a spike like this, and we've been tracking it throughout the entire pandemic. We estimate that it's probably going to double in the next week or two for how many requests we're going to receive for this product" West says.
Potential donors can schedule an appointment or get more information at www.lifeservebloodcenter.org or by calling 800-287-4903.
LifeServe Blood Center supplies blood to 120 hospitals in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.