WHEREAS, Plasma Awareness Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of plasma donation and its impact on patients with rare diseases, to increase understanding about life-saving plasma protein therapies and the conditions they treat, and to recognize the contributions of plasma donors to saving and improving lives; and

WHEREAS, plasma-derived and recombinant therapies, collectively known as plasma protein therapies, are unique biologic products which save and improve lives of individuals throughout Nevada and the United States; and

WHEREAS, plasma protein therapies are used to treat many conditions including hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, primary immune deficiencies, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, hereditary angioedema, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and Rh negative pregnancies; and

WHEREAS, these therapies substantially increase quality of life, extend life expectancy, and improve patient outcomes; and

WHEREAS, each year, approximately 4,600 pregnant women in Nevada receive a plasma protein therapy to protect mother and baby from complications due to incompatible blood types, according to the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association; and

WHEREAS, there are eleven plasma donation centers in Nevada, certified under the International Quality Plasma Program, where healthy and committed donors provide plasma that is used to manufacture high-impact, life-saving therapies;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, STEVE SISOLAK, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, do hereby proclaim the week of October 7 - 11, 2019, as

PLASMA AWARENESS WEEK IN NEVADA