Headquarters California, United States | Founded 1941 | |
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Similar United Blood Services, New York Blood Center, Gulf Coast Regional Blood Ce, Carter BloodCare, Heartland Blood Centers | ||
Blood Centers of the Pacific is a community based, nonprofit blood center that collects blood donations and provides safe blood and blood components for transfusion and also related services to more than 40 hospitals in the Bay Area and Northern California. An affiliate of United Blood Services, the second largest blood collection organization in the U.S., it also houses the Blood Systems Research Institute
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Blood Centers of the Pacific (BCP) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. BCP is licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the California Department of Public Health. It's also accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks and the European Union and a member of America's Blood Centers, a national network of community-based blood centers.
History
In June 1941, the Irwin Memorial Blood Bank opened its doors in response to the lack of a sufficient method of obtaining and storing blood for later use – by both the military and community hospitals in the San Francisco area. The aim was to ensure that patients in the Bay Area would never again be without an adequate supply of blood. Irwin Memorial Blood Bank is credited as the very first community blood bank in the nation.
The San Francisco Medical Society granted the fledgling blood bank permission to operate out of the basement floor of an old San Francisco home, the Irwin Mansion. However, after years of growth, the blood bank expanded its blood collection operations throughout Northern California. It soon became clear that a bigger facility was needed for its headquarters. In April 1955, Irwin opened its new doors at Masonic and Turk Streets in San Francisco. The Blood Centers of the Pacific headquarters still exist at this location today.
In 1997, the Irwin Memorial Blood Bank merged with the Peninsula Memorial Blood Bank to become Blood Centers of the Pacific — a name that encompasses the large region served by the now one organization. In 1999, Blood Centers of the Pacific affiliated with United Blood Services, the nation’s largest blood collection organization.
Today
Blood Centers of the Pacific (BCP) processes more than 200,000 blood components, and distributes about 145,000 pints of blood and almost 24,000 units of platelets annually. The organization employs close to 300 full-time and part-time employees, including physicians, directors, laboratory assistants, phlebotomists, registered nurses, medical assistants, donor recruiters, hospital services personnel, research and administrative staff.
BCP serves more than 40 hospitals in the Northern California area. The hospitals served include:
Blood Systems Research Institute
Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) is housed within Blood Centers of the Pacific Irwin Center headquarters. BSRI is supported by grants from the National Institute of Health and has collaborative partnerships with major universities and medical centers such as the University of California, San Francisco, University of Southern California, Children's National Medical Center, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, University of Pittsburgh, Children’s Medical Center, Oakland, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Partners AIDS Research Center.
BSRI and BCP are considered one of the country's foremost research laboratories in transfusion medicine.