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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4253342_web1_260312-Plasma-00027.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Grifols Plasma Donation Centre on Taylor Avenue.<\/p>\n
The timing of the promotion was troubling, given the deaths in October and January, Rempel-Ong said.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, Grifols wants more people to donate\u2026 (but) you have to acknowledge the optics don\u2019t look good,\u201d he said Monday.<\/p>\n
Rempel-Ong said it has been several years since his last plasma donation. The email, viewed by the Free Press, offered him an additional $20 \u2014 on top of the company\u2019s regular compensation amounts, which vary by volume collected and frequency of donations \u2014 for his next visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe need for plasma donations is especially critical right now and your contributions would have a meaningful impact to patients who rely on plasma-derived medications every day to survive,\u201d the email said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting started again is easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement attributed to an unnamed spokesperson, Grifols said periodically offering welcome-back bonuses is a regular part of its donor engagement strategy.<\/p>\n
The company offers a loyalty rewards program that offers extra compensation to long-term donors as well as referral bonuses and giveaways.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, one woman waiting for an appointment at the Taylor Avenue location said she was referred there by a friend who visits twice a week.<\/p>\n
The woman said she was motivated by the bonuses paid to first-time donors and the person who refers them.<\/p>\n
She said she was not concerned about any risks associated with the donation process, which is widely considered by health officials to be safe.<\/p>\n
Health Canada investigated the two Winnipeg deaths and determined they were unrelated to plasma donations.<\/p>\n
An autopsy revealed one of the donors, 22-year-old Rodiyat Alabede, had a pre-existing heart condition and died of cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a suggestion that this was a criminal act, but for them to deny that this was directly linked to her plasma donation is indefensible,\u201d said Kat Lanteigne, a blood-safety advocate and spokesperson for Alabede\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody is acknowledging what actually happened to her that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lanteigne said both Grifols and Health Canada have agreed to provide Alabede\u2019s family with her medical records and investigative reports.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Health Canada said it would hand over those documents sometime this week; Grifols has not provided a timeline, she said.<\/p>\n Lanteigne accused Grifols of \u201cgaming donors into selling their tissue\u201d through its various promotions and financial incentive structures.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want people to donate as much as possible because that\u2019s how they make their money,\u201d agreed Noah Schulz, director of the Manitoba Health Coalition.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir model relies on high-frequency and high-volume donations.\u201d<\/p>\n Some people who donate to Grifols do so because they need the money. Generally speaking, people living in poverty are more vulnerable and can be at higher risk of adverse health outcomes, Schulz said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no restrictions on how a company advertises to vulnerable populations who are essentially being lured in by the promise of money to sell their human tissue. Blood donation is not meant to be run like a casino,\u201d Lanteigne added.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Both Lanteigne and the Manitoba Health Coalition have called for the province to ban for-profit plasma donations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is also about profit-driven companies and what they will do to earn that profit, versus what a more accountable, public entity\u2026 would pursue,\u201d Schulz said.<\/p>\n Canadian Blood Services signed an agreement with Grifols in 2022 to shore up the country\u2019s plasma supply.<\/p>\n In a statement, Canadian Blood Services said it does not purchase plasma directly from the company but buys finished medications created with the plasma Grifols collects.<\/p>\n tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Tyler Searle Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press\u2019s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic\u2019s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022.\u00a0Read more about Tyler<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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\nRodiyat Alabede died after donating plasma. Her family rejects Health Canada\u2019s absolution of Grifols in her death.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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