Midway businesspeople tour local plasma center

Learn more about the business that’s inside the building where the Midway Business Association mural is painted …

In July of last year, the community came out to celebrate a new mural painted on the Octapharma Plasma Portland building – the location of a recent Midway Business Association meeting.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

About a dozen members and guests of the Midway Business Association (MBA) came out for an evening social hour on May 22 – at Octapharma Plasma Portland, SE 122nd Avenue at Powell Boulevard, in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood.

There, we learned that Octapharma Plasma is the MBA’s “Community Investor” level sponsor – as well as the “host” for the mural.

>> CLICK HERE to read about the MBA Mural project.

Welcoming guests are Octapharma Plasma Portland Center Director Konnie Kitt, Venture Portland MBA District Manager Laura Martinez, and Thrive East PDX Coordinator Gayle Palmer.

Guests enjoy a light supper while networking at this MBA meeting.

During the brief formal meeting, Octapharma Plasma Center’s Director Konnie Kitt told her personal history of how she began in the plasma donation business in a starter position, and worked her way into management over several years.

Octapharma Plasma Center Director Konnie Kitt tells about the company for which she works.

“Headquartered in Lachen, Switzerland, Octapharma is now one of the largest human protein product manufacturers in the world,” Kitt told the attendees. “We launched our first product in 1985, opened our first manufacturing in 1990, and in 2023, celebrated 40 years of innovation and life-changing medicines.

In the lab, Konnie Kitt shows the equipment used, and explains the plasma donation process.

Kitt then explained how their company works with donors, by taking plasma during the donation process – and then, returning the donor’s red blood cells into their bodies. She also described the safeguards the company has established for safety of the plasma product that they produce.

Find out more about Octapharma Plasma Portland by visiting their website: CLICK HERE.

And, learn more about the Midway Business Association by visiting their official website: CLICK HERE.

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