Mid-South Regional Blood Center Inc

Programs: The corporation is organized in order to implement the national blood policy, announced by the secretary of health, education, and welfare on july 10, 1973. It will operate to promote the public welfare and to carry out scientific, educational and other programs to develop an adequate, voluntary supply of blood to meet the health needs of the nation. It will furnish affordable and more readily available and accessible blood, blood services, blood plasma, and other blood and human tissue components, blood and genetic testing and research, and related diagnostic and therapeutic health care services to all persons in need thereof, and especially persons residing in tennessee, arkansas, missouri, and mississippi; and to work cooperatively with hospitals, physicians, blood banks, and other persons or entities that provide or engage in the same or similar services and activities, for the purpose of making the above blood services and components more readily available and accessible to all persons throughout the united states. Mission statementlifeblood is a non profit community service organization. Its mission is to engage volunteer donors and provide a safe blood supply to patients. In fulfillment of its stated purpose and mission, in fy14 lifeblood provided blood related services to the greater than 1,400,000 citizens of 15 counties in 4 states within the mid south and to support healthcare of others across the nation and around the world. Directly benefiting were the patients of the 21 hospitals and other health care facilities in the region who received over 101,000 transfusible blood components. Included in this were some 503 transfusible blood components that were made available through autologous and directed donations, which made patient designated blood components routinely available anywhere in the nation. As in past years, fy14 demand for whole blood and red blood cells in the mid-south continued to be well above the national average of 5,000 units per 100,000 population. Contributing to this disparate demand were: a level i trauma center; a pediatric trauma center; major referral networks of two very large health care systems - baptist and methodist; the university of tennessee transplant programs; and st. Jude children's research hospital. During fy14 lifeblood provided over 101,000 blood components for transfusion to patients in health care facilities: approximately 53,000 whole blood and red blood cell components; over 9,300 apheresis platelets; 14,600 plasma components. 27,000 blood donors made 41,200 donations. 47% of venipunctures were made at neighborhood donor centers in tennessee and mississippi. In addition to convenient blood donation opportunities, these sites provided the community with free blood pressure and hematocrit screenings, and sample collection for infectious disease testing and the national marrow donor program. 53% of venipunctures were made on blood drives conducted on site at churches, businesses, schools, or other locations within a community that are convenient for donors. Mobile blood drives are coordinated by volunteer chair people, usually group blood assurance plan coordinators, who are responsible for obtaining a site for the drive and scheduling donors. Mobiles were available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and were active 350 days during this fiscal year. Primary responsibility for recruiting volunteer donors and blood collection rested with our donor relations group. Dedicated staff also handled autologous and directed donation services for donors and patients. At the close of the fiscal year, there were over 1000 active donation groups (civic clubs, businesses, churches, etc. ); most with their own volunteer coordinator that assisted staff in the recruitment of whole blood and apheresis donors and the collection of blood. Throughout the year educational presentations were made to many of these groups as well as other organizations regarding the need for volunteer blood donors in our community, and explaining the blood donation and component production processes and the use of each blood component in transfusion therapy. Since there is no substitute for human blood and since our community is not self sufficient for its blood needs, the blood center imported blood components from other non profit community blood centers throughout the united states. Although a considerable expense, it enabled the blood center to fulfill its mission. Alternatively, failure to fulfill its mission would leave hospitals to fend for themselves and would most likely cause postponed elective surgeries and certainly far greater expense.