Keep an Eye On Your Ocular Health: The Importance of Routine Eye Exams

When it comes to scheduling preventive health screening exams, eye exams are often overlooked. Individuals may not understand the importance of their ocular health, and many assume a basic vision screening is comprehensive. However, that is not the case and eye diseases are common and can go undetected for a long period of time before symptoms appear. Seeing a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist for comprehensive eye exams is important for detecting eye disease in the early stages when treatment is available to prevent vision loss is most effective.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1898/thumbnail.jp

Motivators for Convalescent Plasma Donors during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study will seek to explore the motivators for convalescent plasma donors during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 increased donations of transfusion products, particularly convalescent plasma from COVID-19 survivors that is used to provide passive antibody immunity to those infected. Convalescent plasma therapy has been identified as one of the only therapies for COVID-19 beyond supportive care. Much of the current research focuses on the current motivators of whole blood and plasma donations, commonly citing altruistic motivations, knowing someone who has previously donated, and social media influence as common motivators for donations. It is important to explore not only what motivates COVID-19 survivors to initially donate plasma, but also the motivations of repeat donors. By gaining a greater understanding of what these motivators are, we may be able to convert these convalescent plasma donors to regular blood donors.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1308/thumbnail.jp