Blood Center Of Iowa

Programs: Donor services department - the donor services department at the blood center of iowa is responsible for all processes related to blood collection services for volunteer blood donors and therapeutic patients. For volunteer blood donors, these processes includes the completion of a travel and medical history questionnaire to ensure donor/patient suitability for blood donation, phlebotomy services for blood collection, and significant customer service functions to assure positive donor and patient experiences. The donor services department collects blood in donor center environments and mobile blood drives with the majority of blood collected occurring in mobile settings located at businesses, schools, churches, and community locations through the partnership of volunteer sponsors groups. An extension of the donor services department is the therapeutic exchange program. This area of the donor services department works specifically with various hospitals aiding hospital staff in the care of patients with specific medical conditions. This program is a specialty service offered to hospital customers by providing assistance for therapy procedures primarily involving the removal of various blood components for gravely ill patients.

hospital services department - the hospital services department at the blood center of iowa houses three specific departments responsible for blood testing, blood component manufacturing, and blood transportation and storage. Those departments are laboratory, component manufacturing & distribution. The laboratory department ensures the safety and quality of all blood and blood products collected by the organization by performing specific laboratory testing functions. In fact, fourteen different tests are performed on each unit of donated blood including specific tests for hepatitis and hiv. In addition to ensuring the safety of the volunteer donated blood, this area also performs other testing such as antigen typing, antibody identification and cross-matching at the request of hospital customers. The component manufacturing department is responsible for manufacturing blood products from donated blood that is used for patient transfusion purposes. Components are manufactured by separating the donated blood into specific products. These products mainly include red blood cells, platelets and plasma. Since one blood donation can help up to three different patients in need, this department's role is ensuring these component products are available to customers after they have been successfully tested. The distribution department is responsible for the storage, delivery and transportation of all blood and blood components to customers. This area of the organization also serves as the point of contact for most of the organization's hospital customers.

recruitment department - the ultimate goal of this department is to recruit volunteer blood donors to ensure a stable and adequate blood supply. The recruitment department is split into two areas, mobile blood drive recruitment and call center recruitment. More than 75% of the donors recruited by the blood center of iowa will give blood at a mobile blood drive with the remaining 25% recruited to donate in a donor center. The call center recruitment efforts focus on phone calling donors to schedule blood donation appointments at mobile blood drives or donor center locations. Mobile blood drive recruitment focuses on securing volunteer sponsor groups to host blood drives while also guiding and training them in blood donor recruitment efforts.