The South Bend Medical Foundation is helping local physicians treat COVID-19 patients.

The Foundation began collecting plasma donations Friday from those recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

This comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug application process that allows for individual physicians to treat patients with serious COVID-19 disease with convalescent plasma, as recovered patients have antibodies in their blood.

The South Bend Medical foundation is working to identify and recruit potential donors who have fully recovered from the virus. Plasma donors must meeting the following requirements:

• Donors must have a prior, confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 from a nasal swab.
• Be fully recovered and symptom-free for at least 28 days.

Fully recovered COVID-19 patients are encouraged to schedule a plasma donation now by calling (574) 204-4243.