1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,320
Yes, welcome back to Buying 
Local, everybody. 

2
00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:05,960
I'm your host, Mike Nelson from 
5 Towers Media joined today. 

3
00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:07,800
You guys are actually going to 
enjoy this because Ben's got 

4
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,240
this wonderful southern accent 
that everyone's going to. 

5
00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,480
I assume it's southern, It 
sounds Southern, It is southern,

6
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,920
it is southern. 
So we'll find out what part of 

7
00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,520
Southern it is, but we're here 
with Ben Ward from Immunotech 

8
00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,200
Plasma. 
Welcome. 

9
00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:23,960
Thank you. 
Yeah, thanks for coming on the 

10
00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:25,560
show, man. 
No thanks for coming out. 

11
00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,280
Yeah. 
And thanks to our our sales 

12
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,200
specialist, Matt Noth for making
it all happen. 

13
00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,160
Yeah, I think you guys just had 
a ribbon cutting with the. 

14
00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:37,640
Chamber, we just had a two year 
ribbon cutting, 2 year cutting. 

15
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:39,640
That's How I Met up with Matt 
and everything. 

16
00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:40,840
And yeah, now we're here. 
Yeah. 

17
00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,880
And that was with the Adirondack
Regional Chamber of Commerce. 

18
00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,160
Of course, we love those guys 
over there at the chamber. 

19
00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:47,640
Amazing chamber. 
As they are. 

20
00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:49,720
Are you a new member or you've 
been a member with? 

21
00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,880
Those we've been a member. 
So I'm newer to the area, of 

22
00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,080
course so, but I've really kind 
of dived in and you know, trying

23
00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,480
to involve her bulb Aminotech 
more with the Chamber of 

24
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:01,920
Commerce and the community in 
the area. 

25
00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,200
While you're in the right spot, 
those guys do an amazing job. 

26
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,600
I can't say enough good things 
about Trisha and Amanda and Ava 

27
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,560
and everybody over there. 
So, so I know right before we 

28
00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,480
started recording, we're talking
you, you started here January, 

29
00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:17,240
but you've been doing this for 
20 years. 

30
00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,560
Almost 20 years, anywhere 
between 15 to 20. 

31
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:22,640
I've actually worked. 
I've worked for Muno Tech for 

32
00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:24,160
three years. 
Three years, OK. 

33
00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:25,680
So I worked in the corporate 
office. 

34
00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,000
Of course, you know, downsizing.
They cut that position. 

35
00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:29,880
They convinced me to take over 
the center here. 

36
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,320
So I moved here from the hills 
of Tennessee. 

37
00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,760
The hills of Tennessee. 
So from the foothills of the 

38
00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,680
Great Smoky Mountain stuff the 
hills of the Adirondack. 

39
00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,000
So yeah, it's a beautiful area 
for sure. 

40
00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:40,800
Well. 
At least you still got 

41
00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:42,280
mountains. 
Yes, exactly. 

42
00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,120
That's a plus. 
It's just a little colder. 

43
00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:47,320
Yeah, and I'll take it. 
We Oh yeah, I like the colder 

44
00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:49,080
weather. 
Yeah, I'd same. 

45
00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,680
I run pretty hot, so it's the 
coolness is yeah. 

46
00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,040
So it's been a nice change for 
sure, yeah. 

47
00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,600
And so you've been with 
Immunotech for three years, you 

48
00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,600
said, but I did you say that 
you've been doing this kind of 

49
00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,120
work for 20 years? 
Yeah, I got my start when in 

50
00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,520
2007, just part time as a 
college kid and liked it and 

51
00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:10,240
just stuck with it. 
And, you know, here I am. 

52
00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,040
Yeah. 
So I've worked for for numerous 

53
00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,520
competitors, of course. 
So, but so far, I love them 

54
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:18,680
Unitech. 
I love working here. 

55
00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:21,640
Otherwise, I don't think I would
have moved all the way to from 

56
00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:23,960
Tennessee. 
That's quite, that's a big jump.

57
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,240
That's right. 
That's a sure sign that you're 

58
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,120
committed at that point as an 
employee, right? 

59
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,840
Yeah, yeah, for sure. 
But you know, I think we're 

60
00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:35,720
we're getting it slowly, Yeah, 
turned around here trying to 

61
00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,560
ramp up, get some more plasma 
right now and get some more 

62
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,600
donors to the door. 
But other than that, I'm loving 

63
00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,160
the area. 
Yeah, it's, I mean, you know 

64
00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:44,680
what I pulled in. 
It seems like it's pretty busy. 

65
00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:45,840
A lot of cars in the parking 
lot. 

66
00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,760
Yeah, I was really busy today, 
which is good thing to see. 

67
00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,440
We just started ramping up here 
at the beginning of the month, 

68
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,720
you know, got some customers are
needing some plasma and you 

69
00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:57,720
know, it's great to see the 
donors coming out today for 

70
00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:58,240
sure. 
Yeah. 

71
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,840
Yeah, it's a. 
It's interesting too because I 

72
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:06,960
have no experience with with 
donating blood, although I know 

73
00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:08,600
that the word is plasma now, 
right? 

74
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:10,320
I guess we don't use blood 
anymore. 

75
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:12,360
I was wondering about that when 
I was doing some research for 

76
00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,480
the show. 
So we don't collect whole blood,

77
00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,080
you know, there's companies that
do still collect whole blood. 

78
00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,200
There's there's still need for 
whole blood, you know, in our 

79
00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,800
industry, in the plasma 
industry, we compensate our 

80
00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,280
donors, you know, based on that,
that compensate. 

81
00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,080
And ours can only be used into 
the manufacturer of medic 

82
00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,920
medications. 
So some companies that do 

83
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,680
volunteer donations where they 
don't compensate the donors, 

84
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:38,680
that's used more in the hospital
setting. 

85
00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,120
So, but yeah, ours strictly for 
medic, we're considered 

86
00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,920
manufacturing mostly because, 
you know, this is the base, the 

87
00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,680
bottom of the level here for, 
you know, making the medications

88
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,120
for that. 
But yeah, there's nothing out 

89
00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,440
there synthetically, you know, 
that could be produced to make 

90
00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:00,800
plasma. 
I mean, you know, all the 

91
00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:05,560
proteins we get out of them, 
there's numerous sayings that it

92
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,960
goes towards people with, you 
know, hemophiliacs that you 

93
00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:14,200
know, can't clot, people with 
primary immunodeficiencies. 

94
00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,920
It goes for stuff like that and 
also goes for vaccines, meaning 

95
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,760
and all vaccines that you know 
are made, it requires requires 

96
00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,000
plasma donations. 
You know, we need a lot of them 

97
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,960
too, you know, I mean, just to 
treat one hemophiliac patient, 

98
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,120
it's about 1200 donors 
donations. 

99
00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,840
Holy moly. 
So, you know, takes a lot, you 

100
00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:36,560
know, we need, you know, and 
trying to just spread the 

101
00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,000
awareness and get more donors 
out. 

102
00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,440
You know, it's great way to make
some extra money on the side. 

103
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,520
You can do it twice in a seven 
day period that was. 

104
00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,880
Going to be one of my questions 
is because I was reading, I was 

105
00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:49,800
like supplemental income. 
I was like, what does that mean?

106
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,440
And I was like, I wonder how 
often you can actually donate, 

107
00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:53,440
man. 
Like, yeah. 

108
00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,440
So most months, people can get 
in about 10 donations a month. 

109
00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,960
Holy moly, you know, And hey, 
I've seen people save up and 

110
00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:03,880
take take vacations on that 
money, you know, save up for any

111
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,360
other projects, you know, you 
know, it comes from us. 

112
00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:09,760
It is tax free. 
Oh, no kidding. 

113
00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,040
So you know. 
All sorts of benefits. 

114
00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:13,960
So yeah, there's all sorts of 
benefits with it. 

115
00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,400
You know, you come in, you 
donate, you go through the 

116
00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,200
process. 
At the end, we put all the money

117
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,840
on a little prepaid Visa card 
that you can just sit on there, 

118
00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:24,280
let it build up or, you know, 
move it over to a savings 

119
00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:26,120
account and let us build some 
interest. 

120
00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,440
But yeah, you can make a good 
chunk of change. 

121
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,920
I know right now I think our Max
weight donor can probably almost

122
00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,560
pull about $900 a month. 
Really. 

123
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:39,360
Wow. 
Yeah. 

124
00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,000
So anywhere between 8 to 900 on 
the Max weight. 

125
00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,080
So that's. 
A a fair amount of money and so 

126
00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:45,600
it's a good. 
Good chunk of change, yeah. 

127
00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,160
Yeah, I can do a lot with $900. 
No, no, right. 

128
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:53,840
Well so help me understand I I 
guess I feel like I should know 

129
00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:56,120
but I don't know like what is 
the difference between blood and

130
00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,360
plasma? 
So whole blood, I mean there's 

131
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,160
many different parts of the 
blood. 

132
00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,440
We keep just the plasma portion,
which what it's the liquid 

133
00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:07,720
portion of the blood. 
So that's about 70% of it. 

134
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,040
So we just keep the plasma 
portion. 

135
00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,560
We return the red cells, the 
white blood cells, the platelets

136
00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:14,640
all back to you. 
So we don't keep any portion of 

137
00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,720
that really. 
Yep, we just keep the plasma 

138
00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,800
with the protein. 
So we do, we do a process called

139
00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,560
plasmapheresis. 
So, you know, we stick you with 

140
00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,680
a needle and the machine, the 
phoresis machine, draws it out 

141
00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:28,680
of you. 
It's Sinner. 

142
00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,040
It spins in the bowl. 
Yeah. 

143
00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,800
And then once it's done, it 
expresses the plasma out of that

144
00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,200
bowl while it's spinning. 
And then once it's done, it 

145
00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,280
stops, returns the red cells 
back to you, and then just keeps

146
00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,760
doing that process back and 
forth until you've reached your 

147
00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,240
total donation target. 
Wow. 

148
00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,240
How does it return it? 
And like, I assume you have to 

149
00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,120
in order to return it. 
Like so we're talking about like

150
00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,240
the red blood cells, white blood
cells, all that stuff that's 

151
00:06:58,240 --> 00:06:59,600
coming back into your body. 
Yep. 

152
00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,440
So I assume you have to have 
some level of plasma in order to

153
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,000
return that in there. 
Nope. 

154
00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,200
When we return it back to you, I
mean all the plasma's expressed 

155
00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,600
out of that bowl of whole blood 
and then it goes back into now 

156
00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,560
will you do draw it with 
anticoagulant to keep the blood 

157
00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,000
from clotting in the set? 
OK. 

158
00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:18,400
So that keeps it, you know, 
moving and going and not 

159
00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,120
clotting? 
Interesting. 

160
00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:22,360
Yep. 
So we draw them in like 5% 

161
00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,280
anticoagulant solution. 
So of course you know, byproduct

162
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,560
of a little bit of that gets in 
in the plasma. 

163
00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,920
But yeah, you know. 
But yeah, you know, we return it

164
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,160
and then at the end we replace 
the fluids we took with you with

165
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,680
the 500 milliliters of saline. 
OK, So you're just kind of 

166
00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:43,920
hooked up and it looks like you 
got some really comfy A bedside 

167
00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,680
like right like they are very. 
Comfortable, you know, we're 

168
00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,680
always having the donor's awake 
because, you know, it's, it's 

169
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,560
hard not to sit there for, you 
know, 3045 minutes. 

170
00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:53,640
Is that how long it takes? 
Yeah. 

171
00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:55,440
Yeah, about 3045 minutes to an 
hour. 

172
00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:57,360
It all depends on how hydrated 
you are. 

173
00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,480
You know the more hydrated you 
are, the better, the better your

174
00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:03,800
experience is going to be. 
Well, you guys should all be 

175
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,320
being well hydrated anyway. 
Drink that gallon of water a 

176
00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:11,360
day. 
But you can't fall asleep 

177
00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,400
though. 
Nope, we got us to keep your 

178
00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:15,720
eyes alert, so we know. 
Everything's OK. 

179
00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:17,840
Everything's good, you know, 
going to be able to see your 

180
00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,720
eyes and stuff like that. 
But yeah, no, not allowed to 

181
00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,640
sleep during the process or, you
know, eat or drink, of course, 

182
00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:30,640
stuff like that. 
How do you decide on how much 

183
00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:32,440
blood someone can give? 
Is that weight driven? 

184
00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:38,960
It's weight driven, so the 
software all knows once when you

185
00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:40,320
come in as a donor, you get 
screened. 

186
00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,960
We we document your weight in 
our donor management system and 

187
00:08:44,039 --> 00:08:46,640
it calculates how much we were 
able to draw from you. 

188
00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:48,920
And you know, the machine does 
its thing. 

189
00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,120
Yeah, once we get you going. 
So it just runs until it hits 

190
00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,840
that target and then at the end 
of that target gives you 500 mil

191
00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:56,840
of saline. 
We pull the needle. 

192
00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:58,960
Soon as we pull it, you know 
you're getting paid and you're 

193
00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,640
out the door. 
And I know like with I don't 

194
00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:07,680
know, but I've heard withdrawing
blood that like you can't just 

195
00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:09,560
get it because I can get dizzy 
and things like that. 

196
00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:11,880
Just getting up right after. 
It's like, are you able to pop 

197
00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,000
right up and go right out the 
door or do you kind of have a 

198
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,040
chill time while you're getting 
the saline or? 

199
00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:17,920
Yeah, you kind of have a chill 
time while you're getting the 

200
00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:19,720
saline. 
It takes one to two. 

201
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,360
It takes, yeah, 2 to 3 minutes 
to get the saline. 

202
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:25,600
Of course, it's room 
temperature, so a lot of people 

203
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:27,720
are cold afterwards, you know, 
getting the saline. 

204
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:30,040
But yeah, Darren, when you're 
getting the saline, you're just 

205
00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,120
hanging out. 
You're still just sitting there 

206
00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,840
laying, you know, playing on 
Wi-Fi or, you know, watching one

207
00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,800
of the TV's. 
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. 

208
00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:42,920
How many? 
How many donors do you get 

209
00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:48,640
through in a month? 
I would say we've been averaging

210
00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:54,160
anywhere say about 600 a month 
right now. 

211
00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,560
Definitely, you know, they 
definitely would love to double 

212
00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:00,720
that. 
Yeah, the Turkey ideally, yeah, 

213
00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:04,680
you know, but I know we're, 
we're just now starting to wrap 

214
00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:07,640
up and everything. 
So hopefully we can get it 

215
00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:08,720
there. 
Yeah. 

216
00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:13,560
You know, one of the things that
I wanted to ask you was are 

217
00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:15,600
there any health benefits to 
donating plasma? 

218
00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,760
Because I know I like I had 
recently, I think it was Gary 

219
00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,280
Brecca was talking about that 
the health benefits of actually 

220
00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,800
donating blood And and I'm not 
smart enough to speak to what 

221
00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,040
those benefits are, but there 
are some benefits. 

222
00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:32,560
You can research them guys. 
Gary Brecco was talking about 

223
00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:35,000
it. 
If you know Gary is, are, are 

224
00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,120
there any 'cause obviously it's 
not whole blood that you're 

225
00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:38,680
donating. 
So I don't know if it's, it's 

226
00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:41,680
not the same thing. 
Is is there any kind of health 

227
00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:44,200
benefit to donating plasma? 
There is, there is a health 

228
00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,680
benefit. 
I mean, you know, checking your 

229
00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:50,400
proteins every four months, you 
know, make sure those are good 

230
00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:55,120
'cause it's the main part of the
plasma, you know, you have to 

231
00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:59,480
eat right, hydrate that, that 
kind of stuff like that, you 

232
00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:02,360
know, that helps make your 
experience better. 

233
00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:04,280
It's definitely a health benefit
too. 

234
00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:07,400
And you know, like I always like
a joke is it's like no will 

235
00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,840
change because, you know, you're
kind of just like recycling it 

236
00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:11,760
out because you're going to 
build it back up. 

237
00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,360
So, you know, yeah, but those 
are those are the few things I 

238
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:16,400
think that are the health 
benefits would donate and. 

239
00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,840
Yeah, I feel like that was part 
of what I had read when about 

240
00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,040
the don't the benefits of 
donating blood was the process 

241
00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,560
of losing it and then it forces 
your body to make more. 

242
00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:28,560
There's there's something good 
about that for you. 

243
00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:32,080
I'm not sure what it is, but 
it's it's really interesting, 

244
00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,480
yeah. 
So, but, you know, to to get 

245
00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,800
started to donate plasma, yeah, 
you know, we take walk-ins for 

246
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,120
new donors. 
You have to have picture ID 

247
00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:46,600
that's not expired, of course, 
proof of Social Security, you 

248
00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:48,400
know, Social Security card or 
picture of it. 

249
00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,040
And then we had to have proof of
address, something that's 

250
00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,160
postmarked through the mail in 
the last 60 days, you know, and 

251
00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,040
then the process of going 
through, you know, we check your

252
00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,080
vitals every time. 
So, you know, that's another 

253
00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:03,440
health benefit is, you know, 
especially if you're tracking 

254
00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:04,720
blood pressure. 
Yeah, stuff like that. 

255
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,840
Your blood pressure. 
And Yep, and then we also do a 

256
00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,200
medical examination. 
It's kind of like a physical. 

257
00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,560
It's definitely more entailed 
than what you would get at your 

258
00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:18,080
doctor. 
You know, most physicals you go 

259
00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:21,800
into and the doctor doesn't even
touch you, you know, but you 

260
00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,680
know, we check, you know 
everything to rule people out, 

261
00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:27,280
make sure we're, we're capturing
those healthy people and you 

262
00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:31,920
know, the eligible people. 
So let's talk about the process.

263
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,640
So I know you said they come in,
you know there is a screening 

264
00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,320
process involved. 
You want to make sure people are

265
00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,000
healthy enough to donate blood 
or plasma. 

266
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,640
I'm sorry. 
And then I saw some like, I 

267
00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,000
don't know, screens, iPads or 
something out in the they like 

268
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,480
check in. 
So they come in after their, you

269
00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:52,760
know, their first visit. 
When they come back as what we 

270
00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:56,200
call return donors, they go to 
the kiosk and that's where they 

271
00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:59,200
answer the questionnaire. 
They answer the questionnaire 

272
00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,920
and then once they're done, they
have a seat over there and then 

273
00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:07,080
they're waiting to be screened. 
Now, sometimes, depending on how

274
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,760
they respond to their questions,
it could force them over to a 

275
00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,800
medical evaluation. 
One of our nurses would have to 

276
00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,080
address 1 of their questions for
their questionnaire. 

277
00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,920
But then after that they go 
through, they get screened. 

278
00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:24,800
You know, we checked their 
vitals, blood pressure, pulse, 

279
00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:27,520
we checked their total protein 
every visit. 

280
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,160
We checked their hematocrit, 
which is a quick way of checking

281
00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,520
basically their iron. 
You know, we're checking a 

282
00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,120
percentage of red blood cells to
plasma and then we're checking 

283
00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:41,080
white, of course. 
And yeah, then once they're done

284
00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,360
with that, as long as everything
passes with that, they are good 

285
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,000
to go to the donation floor and 
then they'll get hooked up. 

286
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:49,920
Hooked up? 
Yeah, lay down on the bed on 

287
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:53,720
those nice comfy beds out there 
and and hang out for 45 minutes.

288
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:55,600
Yep. 
So it's a pretty easy process. 

289
00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:00,560
It's a pretty easy process. 
You know, like I said, that what

290
00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:03,680
I see from my experience the 
most is people don't hydrate 

291
00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:06,480
enough. 
So, you know, they don't have 

292
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:09,200
most pleasant experience. 
So we've been really pushing 

293
00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:11,880
with the donors to hydrate, 
hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. 

294
00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:14,520
You know, it's like I tell 
donors all the time I'm like, I 

295
00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:15,760
don't know why my machine's not 
working. 

296
00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,880
And you look, I mean, you can 
tell somebody's blood if it's 

297
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,760
hydrated or not. 
And you know, and you try to try

298
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:23,440
to counsel. 
Those people like comes out like

299
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:24,880
Stew. 
Yeah. 

300
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,240
Comes out, looks black as tar. 
Oh, really? 

301
00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,280
Yeah, it looks really dark. 
Yeah, when they're not hydrated.

302
00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,080
That's wow. 
Drink water, folks. 

303
00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,400
But yeah, we can also tell when,
like, we're palpating your veins

304
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:37,200
before we stick you how hydrated
you are. 

305
00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,880
So that's what I try to tell 
people's water, water, water. 

306
00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,400
That's the best thing, you know,
And eat and rot before you come 

307
00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,480
in. 
Don't sit down and shout out at 

308
00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:46,440
McDonald's before you. 
You come in and donate. 

309
00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,640
Yeah. 
Yeah, I imagine that's not good 

310
00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:54,240
for your blood plasma. 
No, no, because I've been, I've 

311
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:58,160
seen it before where people get 
stuck and we call it Lepena 

312
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,400
plasma, the fat in the plasma 
and it just, it looks like milk.

313
00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:02,800
Really. 
Yep. 

314
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:04,800
That's gross. 
Yeah, it is kind of gross. 

315
00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:07,520
That is wild. 
Yep. 

316
00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,280
So you don't, you know, you 
wouldn't think about it until, 

317
00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:11,880
you know, we can go and we spin 
it down. 

318
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:13,960
I mean, I've seen them. 
So I'm just Milky white. 

319
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:15,400
And it's like, what have you 
been eating? 

320
00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:17,480
Wow. 
You know, fast food, fried 

321
00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:18,360
stuff. 
It's like, yeah. 

322
00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,240
If you need another reason not 
to eat that stuff, OK. 

323
00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:28,040
Right, exactly. 
Oh, jeez, So I have so many 

324
00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:31,160
questions. 
I well, 'cause it's, you know 

325
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,480
what, I was looking at it before
and you know, I guess you don't 

326
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,680
really, there's so many 
industries out there in the 

327
00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,000
business community that you 
don't really consider or think 

328
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:40,560
of, right? 
And then you don't think of what

329
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,240
happens downstream, right? 
So it's like, so if I what I 

330
00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:47,800
read, if I'm correct in what I 
understood of what I read was 

331
00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:52,240
you guys essentially buy the 
plasma from the donors and then 

332
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,040
you do you do some sort of 
manufacturing to it here at this

333
00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,120
facility before it leaves the 
facility. 

334
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,960
So we don't pay them for the 
plasma, we compensate them for 

335
00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,280
their time of donation. 
All right, so that's. 

336
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,120
Fair. 
So yeah, we we compensate them 

337
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,440
for their time of going through 
the process. 

338
00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,920
The only other thing we do on 
site is we draw testing tubes 

339
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,360
off each unit. 
We draw like 3 or 4 samples off 

340
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:22,000
every unit. 
But then once you know we send 

341
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,040
those samples out and everything
tests OK, then we ship it to our

342
00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,120
customer. 
Now our customer will take it, 

343
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,240
which we, we sell most of 
fractionation plants, they'll 

344
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:36,840
take it and we don't type blood 
or anything here because all the

345
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,120
plasma basically they take, you 
know, they chop the tops off of 

346
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,360
them and dump them all in a big,
a big VAT and then shoot it 

347
00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,560
through the fractionation plant 
and break pull the proteins they

348
00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:49,720
want from it. 
So it's a pretty interesting 

349
00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,360
process, yeah. 
It like I'd never heard of a 

350
00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:56,280
fractionation plant before today
and I was looking at that stuff 

351
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:57,880
right. 
I'm like, I don't even know what

352
00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:59,120
that is or what it does. 
So. 

353
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,640
But from your explanation it 
sounds like fractionation, like 

354
00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,000
they're breaking up the plasma. 
They're breaking up the plasma 

355
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,319
and making, you know, the 
certain medications that can be 

356
00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:09,599
made for from it. 
So it's gone right to like we'll

357
00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:15,920
say I I read your biggest buyer 
starts with the G it's 

358
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:17,040
pharmaceutical. 
Griffles. 

359
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:18,000
Yeah. 
Griffles. 

360
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,240
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 
So like a lot of it goes to 

361
00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:20,880
Griffles. 
Yep. 

362
00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:23,760
And then they take it and they 
separate it. 

363
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:25,800
Yep. 
And then they're either creating

364
00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:30,080
a medication with it or I 
they're made Is is do they sell 

365
00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,360
some of it off too, like the 
stuff that they're not using or 

366
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:35,160
is it? 
I think they honestly, I think 

367
00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:36,640
they use it all to be they use 
it all. 

368
00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,680
Yeah, all into the medication. 
I know we just did a shipment 

369
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:41,560
today. 
So it it once it leaves here, it

370
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,240
all goes to Griffles in North 
Carolina and then, you know, 

371
00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,640
they break it down and make it 
into the drugs that that they 

372
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,440
manufacture. 
When you ship it, it's still a 

373
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:52,960
liquid form, right? 
That's first a solid. 

374
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:55,520
So what is? 
Once we draw the samples and 

375
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,120
everything in it, we have 
freezers that run anywhere 

376
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:03,320
between -35 to -38°C and. 
What the hell is that, 

377
00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:06,040
Fahrenheit? 
I actually think it's the same. 

378
00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,640
Is it? 
I think when you translate it 

379
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,960
over it's exact same temp. 
It's right there in that range 

380
00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,320
where they kind of line up. 
But yeah, it's super cold. 

381
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,400
It only takes our freezers here 
like 5 hours to core freeze a 

382
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,000
whole 800 milliliter bottle of 
plasma. 

383
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,360
Yeah, so but we let it sit in 
the freezer so we we get to play

384
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:27,480
in the cold a lot. 
Yeah. 

385
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:29,080
So it's nice. 
I can't find. 

386
00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:30,880
A winter coats out bad. 
I know, right? 

387
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,040
And I know everybody, I couldn't
do a conversion from Fahrenheit 

388
00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,160
to Celsius, but I standard 
metric. 

389
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,560
I, you know, I, I have never 
taken the time to understand the

390
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:43,760
metric system. 
I'm sorry. 

391
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,240
I still have to break out a 
calculator to convert miles into

392
00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,880
kilometers. 
I've got to, you know, ask 

393
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,480
Google to tell me what Celsius 
is to convert from Fahrenheit. 

394
00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:54,360
I know there's a formula. 
Sorry, guys. 

395
00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:58,800
So how much do you actually ship
out to North Carolina? 

396
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,560
Like do you wait till you hit a 
certain weight and then you ship

397
00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:05,760
or do you just do a time ship? 
Ideally we like to ship every 

398
00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:11,080
every two weeks. 
Usually we want to hit 60 cases 

399
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:16,400
normally, you know, before we 
ship out so, so, but here 

400
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,480
lately, you know, it seems like 
it's been every two to three 

401
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:22,200
weeks, every two to three weeks.
So that's been good for us 

402
00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,560
because we just started to back 
up shipping again, so. 

403
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,120
Yeah. 
Have you, you know, one of the 

404
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:34,800
things that I was looking at for
your locations is number one, 

405
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,640
you, you know, the good to the 
community, right? 

406
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,720
Outside of the fact that you're,
you're a service, right, 'cause 

407
00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:43,280
I we'd consider you a service, 
right? 

408
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:48,120
That is getting plasma into the 
hands of people that can do 

409
00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:49,760
things with it to help other 
people, right? 

410
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,480
So, you know, net benefit of 
what you do is good, right? 

411
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:55,600
You know, obviously you're 
buying local. 

412
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:58,400
We're we're hyper focused on 
local, local, local. 

413
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:00,880
So you know, impact to the local
community. 

414
00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,320
What, aside from how many people
do you employ? 

415
00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:09,840
Right now we have 11 people left
only, but I'm in the process of 

416
00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,320
trying to hire a couple more 
people. 

417
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,720
Yeah, for sure. 
I mean, 1111 is substantial. 

418
00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:15,600
I mean, I think, you know, a lot
of small businesses. 

419
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,840
I mean, I have 5 employees and 
that seems like a lot some days.

420
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:22,040
So except for you, Taylor, 
that's our podcast producers. 

421
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:25,680
That's going to be listening to.
This, but no managing and doing 

422
00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,560
all the things just for the few 
employees I have. 

423
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,800
So like, I hear 11 employees. 
I'm like, oh, that sounds like a

424
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:30,800
lot to me. 
Yeah. 

425
00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:35,880
So you help 11 families locally,
support themselves? 

426
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:36,960
Yep. 
Feed themselves, clothe 

427
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,160
themselves, all that fun stuff. 
But are, are there other impacts

428
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,040
locally as far as what 
Immunotech does? 

429
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:45,960
Because I feel like I read that 
there was like other. 

430
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,400
Impacts local. 
Oh, most definitely the 

431
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:53,680
compensation to the donors, you 
know, I'd say, I know we were, 

432
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:58,160
was looking at the other day, 
you know, over $1,000,000 in 

433
00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,720
donor compensations paid out, 
you know, in a year's time. 

434
00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:03,320
And that that's money that's 
being used in the community. 

435
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,360
Yeah, that's going directly, you
know. 

436
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,520
That's a lot of money. 
There's a lot of money, you 

437
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:10,440
know, and then like I said, 
we've been here 2 years and 

438
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:14,120
that's not even including like 
any facility repairs, you know, 

439
00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:16,640
stuff like that. 
I know when we opened up two 

440
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,200
years ago, I mean that was over 
$5,000,000 and you know, 

441
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,440
facilities remodeling because I 
think this used to be an Aldi's 

442
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,000
I. 
I was going to say that and for 

443
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:26,360
the folks. 
Everybody says that I'm just 

444
00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:28,200
like, OK, cool. 
For the kids at home, we're 

445
00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:30,240
sitting in the old ALDI over 
here on Quaker. 

446
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:32,680
Road so I've had some people 
come in and it's like oh 

447
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:33,760
remember coming here and it's 
like. 

448
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:40,640
OK, yeah, man, we love ALDI 
$1,000,000 back to donors 

449
00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:41,760
that's. 
Yeah. 

450
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,480
That's a fair amount of money, 
man, to be putting. 

451
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:45,040
Back a lot of money in 
community, back in the 

452
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,040
community, so, you know, and 
they're using that, you know, 

453
00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,600
live groceries, yeah. 
Anything pay bills, anything 

454
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,720
like that, yeah, you know, it's 
needed. 

455
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:59,560
Most definitely. 
It's so wild, Like I, I think 

456
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:01,960
I've said this on every podcast 
I've been on in the last month, 

457
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:07,280
but I'm always fascinated by 
businesses that are able to have

458
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,280
these models that it's like a 
lot of businesses, the way that 

459
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,560
we view them as we, we sell a 
product or service, we take 

460
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,760
money in, right? 
That's where it ends, right. 

461
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,720
But then I always use the 
example of like the tree guys, 

462
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,760
the tree services or, you know, 
like they, they come in to chop 

463
00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:25,960
down the tree and then they're 
like, hey, do you want me to 

464
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:27,800
chip up those limbs for you? 
And like, yeah. 

465
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,400
And then it's like, well, do you
want me to take the, the chips 

466
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,720
out of here? 
There's a fee for that. 

467
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,520
So they get paid to remove the 
chips and then they sell the 

468
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,480
chips and they get paid again. 
And so, so on business models 

469
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,640
like that, it just is always 
fascinating to me. 

470
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,160
I'm like, wow, that is smart, 
smart business because it's good

471
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,840
for everybody and it helps those
businesses stay financially 

472
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,760
viable. 
And, and when you're doing 

473
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,720
something or like McDonald's, 
right, where we, I, you know, 

474
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,240
we, I just talked about this 
might have been on buying local 

475
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,200
or might have been blue collar, 
but it's, it was blue collar. 

476
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,680
But, you know, like with 
McDonald's, we always think 

477
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,480
about what their business is 
like, well, they sell burgers, 

478
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,920
but it's like, yeah, but there's
a whole distribution food 

479
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,960
distribution business that's 
behind that, that sells that 

480
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:13,080
food to the individual 
locations. 

481
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,680
And so it's like the, the 
organization itself has all 

482
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,160
these different streams of 
income. 

483
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,160
And so it's always fascinating 
to hear about like how 

484
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,280
businesses work or like in this 
case, it's like you almost have,

485
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,600
obviously you can't call them 
employees, but the donors that 

486
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:31,400
come in, you know, I mean, they 
almost work for you, right? 

487
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,840
They come in, they give you 
their time, they get compensated

488
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:35,720
for it. 
It's putting more money back out

489
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,480
in the community, right? 
It's it's pretty wild. 

490
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,280
A lot of them think they do. 
And you know that every year 

491
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:43,920
around tax time and everybody's 
like, hey, I never got AW 2. 

492
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,000
And I'm like, you're not. 
An employee. 

493
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,320
You're like your donor like. 
Yeah. 

494
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,200
And so you don't have to like do
1090 nines for these folks or 

495
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:52,040
anything like that. 
There's. 

496
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:55,360
No tax expert. 
So yeah, you know, I'm not 100% 

497
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:58,200
sure I'm sure. 
I'm sure if you did that, 

498
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,640
Immunitech Corporate would be 
having to do it, I'm sure. 

499
00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:03,720
Yeah, they would. 
They want to keep their IS 

500
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,120
dotted and T's crossed for sure 
because they have how many 

501
00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:10,200
locations? 
We have 16 across 12 states 

502
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,600
right now. 
Yeah, we're corporate 

503
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,800
headquarters is based in South 
Lake, Texas, right outside 

504
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:17,080
Dallas area. 
OK. 

505
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:22,640
So we have numerous locations. 
That's one of our things with 

506
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,520
our company is we open develop 
centers and then we'll sell them

507
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,960
to people like you said earlier,
like Griffles. 

508
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:34,000
I know last year at the 
beginning of this year, we sold 

509
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,080
over 20 centers to Griffles. 
Oh wow. 

510
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,760
So that's kind of our been our 
bread and butters opening 

511
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,480
centers, selling them to the 
bigger players in the plasma 

512
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,560
game. 
To other revenue stream like 

513
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,000
that hidden business model that 
just makes so much sense and 

514
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,520
it's I mean I can imagine so 
like you said cost about 

515
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,520
$5,000,000 to open up this 
facility. 

516
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:55,840
I know the research I did it 
said that on average it takes 

517
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,640
about 5 to $10 million to open 
up a new center so much. 

518
00:24:58,640 --> 00:24:59,560
Overhead. 
Yeah. 

519
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,960
Well, I mean the construction 
costs alone, right. 

520
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,400
And I would imagine you are 
probably on the lower side 

521
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:08,640
because you rehabbed or refabbed
an existing building, so you 

522
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,680
didn't have to do the exterior 
building, the foundation and all

523
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:12,880
that stuff that goes along with 
it. 

524
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:17,400
So, but in some cases they're 
spending $10 million to go from 

525
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,960
nothing to something, but then 
they operate it, they get it up 

526
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:24,360
and running and then they sell 
it off, I imagine for a pretty 

527
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,000
penny. 
I would have hoped so. 

528
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,240
But yeah, but but wild to me 
that, you know, from a business 

529
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,000
standpoint is just, it's really 
cool because it's like, all 

530
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,400
right, now they're not just in 
the, the plasma business now 

531
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,560
they're kind of in the, the 
business, you know, they're, 

532
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,040
they're literally creating a 
business, building that business

533
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,120
up and then selling that 
business off for a profit, which

534
00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:47,040
is, you know, almost every 
business owner's dream. 

535
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,040
You know, like that's what the 
the goal typically is, right? 

536
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,080
Is I build a business, sometimes
it takes 20 years. 

537
00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:53,880
You guys are doing it. 
You've got a beautiful system 

538
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:55,720
that allows you to do it in just
a few years. 

539
00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,400
It's really cool. 
Yeah, yeah. 

540
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,040
We've, I know. 
I used to work on the new center

541
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:06,600
development side before this 
position, so I know took a lot 

542
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,760
of pride and open incentives and
training those staff. 

543
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:10,320
Yeah, for sure. 
Yeah. 

544
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,520
And it's, I mean, again, to your
point from before, it's from a 

545
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,760
local impact. 
If you're doing a $10 million 

546
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:20,000
build out on a brand new center 
or even a 5 million refab, like 

547
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,840
right, that's a lot of money 
into the community. 

548
00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:25,080
Exactly. 
Yeah, that's pretty amazing. 

549
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:29,840
So in in this community, which 
I'm not used to, the smaller 

550
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:34,000
town, you know, being from 
Knoxville, bigger area. 

551
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,680
Well, all the other areas I've 
lived, I've always lived in the 

552
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,920
bigger area. 
But here it's funny, I don't 

553
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,640
know if it's just New York or 
but like I've had people that 

554
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:48,000
like have no clue about plasma 
donations, which is amazing me, 

555
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,240
you know, coming from the South,
like it's common knowledge and. 

556
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:52,960
Everybody knows. 
Not everybody knows about it, 

557
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,320
you know, but up here it's, you 
know, just trying to spread the 

558
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,880
word and get people, you know, 
in the mindset. 

559
00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:03,000
And like a lot of people know, 
don't know we're here and that 

560
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,200
we compensate them for their 
time while donating, you know 

561
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,400
which, you know, there's a lot 
of people out there that donate,

562
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,280
you know, was it every eight 
weeks? 

563
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:15,040
We need to do whole blood and 
stuff like that. 

564
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,360
You know, we're here, too. 
You can compensate you for your 

565
00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:20,000
time while you're donating. 
Yeah, that's pretty cool. 

566
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:21,480
Extra money in your pocket. 
Yeah. 

567
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,240
Well, that's again, and maybe I 
said this before, but when I was

568
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,320
reading about, you know, kind of
some of the things that you did 

569
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:29,920
and I was like supplemental 
income. 

570
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,040
I'm like, how much? 
But I mean, I would definitely 

571
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,520
consider $900 a month 
supplemental income. 

572
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,560
Yeah, no, most definitely. 
That's a fair amount of money. 

573
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,080
Yeah, definitely. 
You know, especially it's a car 

574
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:43,440
payment, Yeah. 
It is a car payment and and a 

575
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,280
little leftover. 
Hopefully, yeah, hopefully cost,

576
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,040
cost of cars these days. 
Go see, go see Larry Brown over 

577
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:53,160
at Jerry or Jerry Brown over at 
Brown Brothers Automotive. 

578
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,160
Sorry, Larry. 
They've got some great cars that

579
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:57,920
are affordable. 
They're not a paid advertiser, 

580
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,000
by the way. 
I just really like Larry and I 

581
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,560
bought a truck from those guys 
recently and it was affordable, 

582
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,280
which was nice. 
So nothing but good, good stuff 

583
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:12,400
to say about those guys. 
Right, So, all right, so lots of

584
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,720
community impact, which 
obviously we love that. 

585
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:17,200
And you're talking about this 
area. 

586
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:19,760
I, I had never heard of plasma 
donation either. 

587
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,480
So when I first heard about 
Immunotech, I thought it was 

588
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,240
like donating blood. 
And then when I started research

589
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,840
for the show, I was like, wait, 
plasma? 

590
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,280
I'm like, oh, maybe that's just 
'cause you know, terms these 

591
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,440
days everybody's got to use 
certain terms for certain 

592
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:33,760
things. 
So I'm like, well, maybe it's 

593
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:37,160
just some sort of faux pas now 
to call it blood as opposed to, 

594
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:38,840
but it's a completely different 
process. 

595
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,880
Completely different process, 
whole different part of the the 

596
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,080
blood that we're taking of the 
whole blood. 

597
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,200
And you get to keep your white 
cells and your red cells. 

598
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:47,640
And your platelets. 
And your platelets. 

599
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:49,400
What's very important so and 
clot. 

600
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:51,080
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
We need those. 

601
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,880
You need to be able. 
To clot need those interesting 

602
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:58,160
that they, I know we were 
talking about some of the uses 

603
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,480
for the plasma that you're 
getting is for clotting 

604
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,920
disorders for hemophiliacs. 
So interesting to me that the 

605
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:09,160
platelets are removed and not 
used in that process. 

606
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:11,600
Yeah. 
There's a certain protein that 

607
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:18,160
they take from the plasma, the 
coagulants that they take from 

608
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:19,040
it. 
Yeah. 

609
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,080
Is part of it. 
No, I mean, we're not probably 

610
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:24,880
able to get all the platelets 
out of that plasma, I would say.

611
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:32,720
But yeah, we use what was it the
C1 estertacin inhibitor probably

612
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:34,480
has totally butchered that, but 
that's. 

613
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,160
Fine, it's way over my head, you
know, right? 

614
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,400
But that's a certain protein 
that they used that they target 

615
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,840
to treat those hemophiliacs. 
Interesting. 

616
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,160
OK, so it's really cool. 
So you've been here since 

617
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,600
January, Immunotech's been here 
for two years. 

618
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:52,880
What's the the long term play 
like? 

619
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,160
Will will Immunotech look to 
build the store up and then sell

620
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,440
it off? 
Or is it a longer term play or 

621
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,560
how does that? 
Is there even a strategy for it?

622
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,600
I wouldn't say there was a 
strategy right now is just I 

623
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:10,600
want to collect as much plasma 
that we can get to help help the

624
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,920
patients, you know, people with 
those certain, with those 

625
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,000
certain medications that they 
take and stuff like that. 

626
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:19,920
You know, it's just to collect 
as much and try to get as many 

627
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,000
donors through the door that 
kept us out while we're while 

628
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:24,680
we're helping them out. 
Yeah, yeah. 

629
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:26,240
What? 
What do you think the biggest 

630
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:27,960
challenge is to getting donors 
in the door? 

631
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:33,520
I would say our hours right now,
but we're, you know, as I get 

632
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:36,080
more people on, we're going to 
be looking to expand. 

633
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,800
I mean, right now we're Tuesday 
through Saturday, 7:00 to 2:00 

634
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,040
PM. 
You know, I get a lot of donors 

635
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:45,560
in the middle of the day, you 
know, I'm sure if I was to stay 

636
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:50,880
open after, you know, 3/4, 5:00 
PM or later, you know, I would 

637
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,120
catch those people. 
They're getting off work. 

638
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,200
But you know, also the location 
here, we don't get a lot of foot

639
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,200
traffic at right here at this 
location at Quaker Rd., you 

640
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:05,080
know, but I know we do get a lot
of cars to drive by, but. 

641
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:09,480
Yeah, it's a busy Rd. 
Yeah, you know, so and I think 

642
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,440
it's a lot of people just don't 
know we're here or I mean, I've 

643
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,920
even had people, you know, like,
are y'all open? 

644
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:16,480
I'm like, Oh yeah, please, we're
open. 

645
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,480
Please come donate. 
I'll pay you. 

646
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,480
Yeah, you know. 
It's funny, I'll pay you to come

647
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:22,160
hang out with me. 
I'll. 

648
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,720
Pay you to donate plasma so you 
know, but you know, you actually

649
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,520
got to get through the process, 
get stuck with the needle to get

650
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,520
paid. 
You know, I think a lot of 

651
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,720
donors think they just get 
compensated for coming in and 

652
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,760
Tron, but you've actually got to
get through the process. 

653
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,640
Unfortunately, you know before 
you know and actually donate 

654
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,680
some plasma before we would 
compensate you. 

655
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,360
Is there, do you have to go 
through the process every time 

656
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,040
you come in or is it just you 
come to the once and then you're

657
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:48,840
in the system and you just kind 
of show up? 

658
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,680
So yeah, your first time's a 
little bit longer 'cause you got

659
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,880
to have the physical, but then 
after that you just you make an 

660
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:57,720
appointment. 
We take appointments for our 

661
00:31:57,720 --> 00:31:59,800
return donors. 
New donors would take walk 

662
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,480
insurance, but return donors 
come in, they go to the kiosk, 

663
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,000
they get screened. 
That process is the same every 

664
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,440
time they come in. 
Now that they will have their 

665
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,680
physical or medical evaluation, 
it's yearly, that's been done 

666
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,120
every year. 
So they'll do that once and 

667
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:15,600
then, you know, once they come 
in. 

668
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,440
I mean, it usually only takes to
get through your questionnaire 

669
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:22,000
and screening process, maybe 10 
to 15 minutes and then you 

670
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,560
should be on the donor floor and
be getting stuck. 

671
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:25,800
So like an hour. 
Yep. 

672
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,640
Hour out of your day. 
That's idea, you know, try to 

673
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,000
value all our donors time when 
they come in. 

674
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,360
Yeah. 
You know, some, some days are 

675
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,160
harder than others, for sure. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

676
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,520
So what does it equate to? 
Like I know it depends on how 

677
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,640
big you are, small you are 
weight and that stuff, but like 

678
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:51,480
is it like 50 bucks an hour? 
Yeah, something like that. 

679
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,800
It all depends on because I know
my Max weight can make 120 a 

680
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:58,360
week. 
Doing 2 donations. 

681
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:01,200
Doing 2 donations 60. 
Bucks a pop, that's still good 

682
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,800
money. 60 bucks an hour, yeah. 
So, you know, if we can get you 

683
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,880
through an hour, yeah, like, you
know, the biggest thing is 

684
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,200
hydration. 
Like, yeah, I've said three, six

685
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:13,960
times already. 
Yeah, yeah, you know, that's 

686
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,520
going to make it. 
I mean, I've seen people and 

687
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,120
mostly it's the smaller women, 
you know, that can do it. 

688
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,560
I've I've one girl the other 
day, I think it did a donation 

689
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:24,960
like 32 minutes. 
So I was like, oh, wow. 

690
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:30,120
It's like it's super quick, but 
you know, typically you know 

691
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,800
somebody about massage, you 
know, I'm pretty big guy, you 

692
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,800
know, maybe 45 minutes to an 
hour, you know, once again. 

693
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:39,280
It's just because you're given 
more. 

694
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,880
Right. 
Given more, there's also other 

695
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:45,440
factors like hematocrit like 
hydration, of course. 

696
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,400
Did I drink hydration? 
Hydration. 

697
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:48,840
Listen to them. 
Drink your water. 

698
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:50,800
Drink your water, maybe a little
salt. 

699
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:58,480
You absorb that water. 
So, but yeah, it all varies from

700
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,040
personal. 
It also varies how good your 

701
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:05,120
veins are, you know, like, you 
know, we can only work with what

702
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,280
you're bringing and getting at 
the best veins. 

703
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,440
Sometimes we can make it work, 
sometimes we can't. 

704
00:34:09,679 --> 00:34:12,960
But also, you know, if we're 
having a fiddle with the needle,

705
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,440
yeah, quite often during the 
process, that's going to of 

706
00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:18,840
course add some time to to your 
donation because everybody 

707
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:22,320
sometimes we might have to re 
stick you, you know, especially 

708
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,719
to give your red blood cells 
back, you know, for safety, 

709
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,800
safety factor. 
But but yeah, there's just so 

710
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,480
many different factors that play
into how quick you can donate. 

711
00:34:31,639 --> 00:34:35,600
Yeah, it's a it really is 
fascinating. 

712
00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:38,880
I the whole thing is just. 
It is interesting to. 

713
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,800
Me, I know I got it into it as a
college student and absolutely 

714
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:43,239
nothing was just like, what is 
this? 

715
00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:45,520
And college friend that was 
like, Hey, you want to, you 

716
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,360
know, look for a job. 
You're, you know, I was in 

717
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,159
college from like Lincoln 
Medical, you know, with my 

718
00:34:51,159 --> 00:34:53,840
career and stuff. 
And yeah, I got into it and just

719
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,159
loved it. 
And I was like, that's so 

720
00:34:56,199 --> 00:34:57,800
interesting, you know? 
Never. 

721
00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:01,720
Thought, yeah, again, like I 
said, I not to repeat myself, 

722
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:05,480
which I often do, but I, I had 
no idea there was a difference 

723
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:07,600
between donating plasma and 
donating blood. 

724
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:10,520
So yeah, Yeah. 
It's wild. 

725
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:13,360
What? 
Now? 

726
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,440
You said, you know, you're open 
seven to two, which is still a 

727
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,280
pretty good stretch. 
I mean, it's 7 hours good chunk 

728
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:21,160
of the day. 
Is it? 

729
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,280
Is it just because of you've got
to keep people to 8 hours a day,

730
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,880
you know that kind of thing, 40 
hours a week, or what's keeping 

731
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,720
you from making the jump to 
staying open later? 

732
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,240
Well, I've got to get a couple 
more staff, of course, to be 

733
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:41,400
able to do that Also, you know, 
finished training up my 

734
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:43,760
supervisor. 
So it ain't just me. 

735
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,520
Yeah. 
So that's kind of the factors 

736
00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:48,720
are playing into it. 
But once all that that happens 

737
00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:51,520
comes together, we're going to 
be looking at expanding the 

738
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,000
hours of the center so. 
Are you managing all 11 people 

739
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,920
yourself right now? 
Yep, this is small center I've 

740
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:58,880
ever managed. 
So I'm usually manage. 

741
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,160
I've worked for numerous 
competitors so they say my first

742
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:04,600
plasma center. 
So the last plasma center I ran 

743
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,960
I had 50 staff so wow. 
That's a lot of people to manage

744
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,800
for one person. 
So yeah, no, I've been doing it 

745
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:13,160
for a while, so. 
Yeah, got it. 

746
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:16,640
And I mean again, from the 
sounds of things, they must have

747
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,080
Immunotech must have some great 
systems in place that they've 

748
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,040
created to help running of the 
business. 

749
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:22,880
We do and then, you know, really
come in. 

750
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,000
My staff have a great staff. 
I tell them that all the time. 

751
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,280
They probably think I'm crazy, 
but like really the staff that I

752
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,240
have here and you know, they're 
all from this area, you know, 

753
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:34,200
speaks a lot of. 
Great people that lives around. 

754
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,440
Here for sure, you know, dealt 
with, you know, and they think 

755
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,520
I'm crazy when I say that, but 
I'm just like, y'all don't 

756
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,240
understand when I've had to deal
with staffing loss, you know? 

757
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,280
Yeah, so you know. 
Do you find coming from down 

758
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:50,760
South? 
So years ago when I was like 

759
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,960
2021 years ago. 
You're going with this? 

760
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:58,440
I Well, so I moved from New York
down to Florida and there was a 

761
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,120
group of us, I think it was like
5 or 6 of us that went down 

762
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:06,600
there and we, I walked into a 
restaurant, filled out a job 

763
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,560
application. 
The guy looked at it, he's like,

764
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:10,480
you're from New York. 
And I was like, Yep, he goes, 

765
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,440
you're hired. 
And the reason he had told me 

766
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:18,200
for that was because people from
New York move so much faster 

767
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:19,960
than people down South. 
Yeah. 

768
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,600
And I'm just wondering if you 
have seen that same thing when 

769
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:25,400
coming up north. 
Do you feel, do you find that 

770
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,120
the people up north and and 
nothing again, it's completely 

771
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,640
nothing against people down 
South. 

772
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:30,800
It's just a different way of 
life. 

773
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:34,080
But I yeah, have you noticed 
that, that people up here moving

774
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:36,120
faster? 
They definitely talk faster, 

775
00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:39,600
that's for sure. 
Yes, we definitely moving 

776
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:44,680
faster, I'd say, you know, for 
me, from what I've seen, it's 

777
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,920
about the same because this is 
the fourth state I've lived in. 

778
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:50,240
So I've lived in the South, 
lived in the Midwest now, you 

779
00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:53,480
know, living in the Northeast. 
So all places in the regions 

780
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,200
I've lived, it all seems to be 
the same. 

781
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,800
It's the mentality of people 
and, you know, worth that thick.

782
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:07,240
Yeah, for sure is different. 
Oh yeah, yeah, so, but you know,

783
00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:12,000
compared to because I've ran the
center in North Carolina, but it

784
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,440
was interesting to say the 
least. 

785
00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:20,440
Stefan Wise had some characters,
not so nice characters. 

786
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:25,200
That's unfortunate. 
But now the staff here, they 

787
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:27,480
show up on time, they're great, 
they're friendly. 

788
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:30,280
You know, I always joke when I'm
interviewing people. 

789
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,840
It's kind of like a bar. 
Like you see these people twice 

790
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,240
a week, they come in, they hang 
out, you chat with them for an 

791
00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:36,240
hour while. 
They're there. 

792
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,520
So you end up being like no one 
people's whole life stories and 

793
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:40,840
everything that's going on in 
their life. 

794
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:43,640
So, you know, kind of build a 
relationship with the donors 

795
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:45,960
too. 
So, so I always just tell people

796
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:47,920
it's like like being a 
bartender, that's funny. 

797
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,880
Get to hear all the stuff. 
You get to hear all the the 

798
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,240
stuff, even the stuff you don't 
want to hear about, I'm sure. 

799
00:38:56,440 --> 00:39:00,240
What? 
I just had a question within it.

800
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:03,920
I was, it made me think about 
back when I was a bartender. 

801
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:08,240
I know exactly what you're 
saying, like, but you still got 

802
00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:11,400
to listen, you know, you still 
got to have the conversations. 

803
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,440
Yeah. 
As far as, oh, that's what I was

804
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,160
going to ask you about as far as
like, so you've got a great 

805
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:18,240
staff. 
What, what does your hiring 

806
00:39:18,240 --> 00:39:20,200
process look like? 
Because I know that's always a, 

807
00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:22,800
a challenge for businesses, 
especially small business owners

808
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,200
that don't, haven't done a lot 
of, a lot of hiring. 

809
00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:29,080
And so a, a decent hiring 
process I have found has always 

810
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,800
been very helpful to make to 
ensure that you get the right 

811
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:33,520
staff and that they're, they're 
great. 

812
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,080
Yeah. 
So that's one thing great, great

813
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:40,880
about Immunotech here is we have
a whole talent acquisition 

814
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:43,760
department that does all my pre 
screening, the posting of the 

815
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:47,920
jobs, the finding of the 
applicants, you know, we have 

816
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,120
calls like, you know, let him 
know what I'm what I'm looking 

817
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:55,720
for, you know, stuff like that, 
which takes a lot off my plate. 

818
00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:02,440
And my TA person, he does a 
great job with TA talent 

819
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,160
acquisition. 
So they he does a pretty good 

820
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:06,840
job with sending me some great 
candidates. 

821
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:12,000
So, you know, right now I'm 
trying to hire a nurse and then 

822
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,040
we're trying to hire a donor 
center technician. 

823
00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:19,320
So trying to fill those two 
positions and slowly getting the

824
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,320
interviews in. 
But that's one thing I had to 

825
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,320
say about Immunotech is that 
whole hiring process and you 

826
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,080
know, having that one person 
that's just doing the finding 

827
00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:31,400
and stuff like that and like 
work on finding candidates 

828
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:35,560
really great because. 
Do you know if they're using 

829
00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:38,480
like Indeed or where they're 
doing their job placements to 

830
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:40,920
get that initial influx of 
candidates? 

831
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:46,640
Think they're using indeed, I'm 
not 100% sure, but I think I'm 

832
00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:49,360
pretty sure, you know, I think 
it is indeed that he's, he's 

833
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,400
utilizing because I know 
sometimes if we don't have any 

834
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:56,000
applicants, he'll do he'll do a 
candidate search and reach out 

835
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,040
through that way. 
I get that question all the time

836
00:40:58,040 --> 00:40:58,880
from people. 
They're like, where? 

837
00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:01,560
Where do I find I'm like, I 
don't know, I'm like. 

838
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:03,400
We use indeed, that's always our
first. 

839
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:05,880
Entry, right? 
Yeah, I mean, I know in my 

840
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,840
previous life I've used, you 
know, those, those programs. 

841
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:10,920
Indeed. 
And like, what is it, Zipper? 

842
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:12,160
Herd Zip Recruiter. 
Yep. 

843
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:16,160
So, but I do know they use 
Indeed for sure. 

844
00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:20,400
Other than that, it's just them,
you know, putting it out there 

845
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,560
helping people apply or, you 
know, doing candidate searches 

846
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:24,520
online. 
Yeah. 

847
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:28,000
And then once, once you get 
those people in, sounds like 

848
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,200
you've already, you know, you 
got them screened down. 

849
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:32,880
So you maybe you start with 100 
candidates, you're down to 20 or

850
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:35,520
whatever it is, right? 
Do you do, are you a single 

851
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,040
interview, multi interview? 
Like what does that process look

852
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:41,920
like for you? 
Most of the time I will have, I 

853
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:47,040
have a quality manager, Linda. 
She's she will sit in with me 

854
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,080
for those interviews. 
So it's just usually just me and

855
00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:53,760
her. 
Now, if I'm hiring a nurse, I'll

856
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,840
have my medical supervisor, 
Candy, sit in with that me on 

857
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,000
that one, just because you know,
she's going to be responsible 

858
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,440
for their training and, you 
know, reporting to her. 

859
00:42:03,720 --> 00:42:04,960
Want to make sure they get 
along? 

860
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:10,040
So, and you know, she's been a 
nurse, unlike me, so, but that 

861
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:11,480
also helps too. 
That helps, yeah. 

862
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,840
Get her feedback on, on any of 
these candidates. 

863
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,120
And sometimes she knows them. 
Yeah, I mean, it's a small, 

864
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:18,760
small. 
Community, it is a very small 

865
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:20,680
yeah. 
I'm starting to realize that I'm

866
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,280
just like, oh, everybody knows 
everybody. 

867
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,160
Yeah, I didn't realize, which is
great. 

868
00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:27,400
I I, it's one of the things I 
love about living here. 

869
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,120
I mean, you know, you said 
earlier like it is a different, 

870
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:34,120
this part of the country is very
different than a lot of other. 

871
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,480
Parts of the country, so is. 
And we're for so many reasons, 

872
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:41,800
you know, economically we're 
insulated from a lot of stresses

873
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,080
and factors that happen in other
parts of the country. 

874
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:48,120
And, but just, I think Warren, 
Washington and Saratoga County 

875
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:52,520
specifically, it's just, we've 
just got a vibe and it's, I 

876
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:56,960
think an overall good vibe and a
+1 and, and for the most part, 

877
00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,440
people are good and nice. 
And yeah, I know. 

878
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:01,920
I was about to say, you know, 
everybody talks about, you know,

879
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:03,480
how nice people are in the 
South. 

880
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:08,400
I mean, I and then I've before I
moved up in here, moved up here,

881
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:12,760
you know, I had somebody out 
somewhere and they're like, oh, 

882
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,880
I'm from the north and they're 
just not mean and ugly. 

883
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:17,840
And I'm just like, that's not 
been to my experience. 

884
00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:20,040
Yeah, not up here, not in this. 
Part of the country, you know 

885
00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:22,320
and I'd already been up here for
like 2 weeks at that time when I

886
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:24,960
went back so. 
But yeah, everybody's been super

887
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:28,840
nice, you know, place I live 
over off aviation and like all 

888
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:30,480
my neighbors are really cool. 
Yeah. 

889
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:34,400
You know, not was I expected 
coming from the South. 

890
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:39,040
But overall it's beautiful area.
I mean, super clean. 

891
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,560
It's one thing that amazes, 
amazes me is how clean this area

892
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,800
is. 
Yeah, compared to the South. 

893
00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:48,200
Parts of it anyway, right? 
Yeah, there's Yep. 

894
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:53,040
So, but yeah, no, it's just it's
a great community and I know 

895
00:43:53,240 --> 00:43:57,160
once we can get more donors out 
and everything like that, you 

896
00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,520
know, it's a great donor base 
that's here, yeah, that we're 

897
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:04,320
definitely trying to tap into. 
Well, hopefully you know we can 

898
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:05,400
help with that in some small 
way. 

899
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,400
Anyway, you know, again, I 
looking at everything that you 

900
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,560
guys are doing as an 
organization, it seems like 

901
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:14,440
you're doing a lot of great 
work, positive impact on local 

902
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,880
community, positive impact on 
the country at large with what 

903
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:20,920
you do and, and what, where the 
plasma goes and what it's used 

904
00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:24,240
for that's not used for 
nefarious activities. 

905
00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:28,000
You know, it's all good stuff 
and it's help helping sick 

906
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:29,240
people get medications they 
need. 

907
00:44:29,240 --> 00:44:33,280
So it's it's great. 
It must be good to, you know, 

908
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:35,280
feel good to be a part of an 
organization that's a good 

909
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,040
organization. 
That's one of the reasons why 

910
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:38,680
I've stayed in this industry for
so long. 

911
00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:40,560
Yeah. 
You know, it's just the simple 

912
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,640
fact that, you know, I'm doing 
something every day that's 

913
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:46,400
helping someone and they're 
finding something new every day 

914
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,960
for conditions that you never 
would thought that they, you 

915
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,480
know, I'll give one example as 
my grandmother had Massena 

916
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,440
Gravis. 
Well, when she had it, there was

917
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,960
no drugs, there was nothing, no 
cure anything. 

918
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,680
Now we've got drugs from 
strictly from plasma drugs. 

919
00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:02,720
Oh, no kidding. 
So, you know, so definitely 

920
00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:05,280
doing some great work in in this
industry. 

921
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:09,400
Well, I mean, I'll just speak 
for everybody whether they like 

922
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:12,560
or not, but thanks for the great
work you're doing and thanks for

923
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:14,200
coming on the show. 
I really appreciate for having 

924
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:16,240
me man, let me. 
Employees, you're managing you, 

925
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,880
you know, you got a lot going on
here and I really appreciate the

926
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:21,840
time and appreciate coming on. 
So thank you. 

927
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:24,640
Yeah, if, if people want to 
learn more about Immunotech, if 

928
00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:28,200
they want to potentially become 
a donor, if they want to 

929
00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:31,120
potentially work here, how do 
they find you guys? 

930
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:36,320
So yeah, if you're looking for a
job, immunotech.com, that's one 

931
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:39,520
way donation wise, you can 
either call us here at the 

932
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:45,760
center at 518-480-2971 or you 
can contact us through the 

933
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:47,680
website and then we'll reach 
back out to you. 

934
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:51,160
But other than that, we're open 
Tuesday through Saturday, 7:00 

935
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,520
to 2:00 PM. 
And if you're new donor looking 

936
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,360
to donate, just come by and see 
us. 

937
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,080
Nice walk in's welcome, huh? 
Yep, walk in's welcome. 

938
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:00,480
Just make sure you got that 
picture ID that's not expired. 

939
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:03,120
Proof of Social Security and 
proof of address. 

940
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:04,880
Something postmarked in the last
60 days. 

941
00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:06,520
Awesome. 
Thanks, man. 

942
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,240
I appreciate coming on. 
By the way, I just are you a 

943
00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:11,160
bless your heart guy? 
No, I'm not. 

944
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:12,400
You're not a bless your heart 
guy. 

945
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:16,040
No. 
It's like my my whole life I've 

946
00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:18,280
wished that I was from the South
so I could use bless your. 

947
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:19,720
Heart. 
Bless your heart, it's the best 

948
00:46:19,720 --> 00:46:21,440
thing. 
I'm not. 

949
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:23,960
There has been situations I've 
used it, of course. 

950
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:27,560
It's like you can insult someone
and so long as you say bless 

951
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:30,040
your heart, it's still OK. 
It's the most amazing thing. 

952
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,040
Like I've had it done to me and 
I was like, wow, they just 

953
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:34,960
insulted me. 
But it sounded so nice. 

954
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,680
So no, never been a bless your. 
All right, that's fine. 

955
00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:47,120
I had to ask with that accent. 
Well, everyone, thank you so 

956
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:49,680
much for listening. 
You know, of course, you can 

957
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:54,120
find us on buying local dot US 
and you can hear us on Apple 

958
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:57,720
podcast, Spotify, and then of 
course, the video versions on 

959
00:46:57,720 --> 00:47:00,240
YouTube and rumble. 
Thanks for listening everybody, 

960
00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:01,480
and you'll hear from us next 
week.