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Introduction to FBS
Since its inception in 1942, the roots of Florida Blood Services go back to a
regional blood program based on Congressional Districts, located in three small
rooms in Tampa General Hospital serving the greater Tampa Bay area.
From this humble beginning as smaller, city related organizations, Florida Blood
Services was evolved in 1995 as an affiliation of three such local blood banks:
Hunter Blood Center (Clearwater); Southwest Blood Center (Tampa); and Community
Regional Blood Center (St. Petersburg). Since than, it has grown significantly
with additions including: Bradenton (Manatee Community Blood Center); Pensacola
(Northwest Florida Blood Center); Tallahassee (Southeastern Blood Center); and
Lakeland (Blood.net). This growth has now created an organization of 1200+
Healthcare professionals providing more than 350,000 units of blood annually
and blood products to more than 100 hospitals throughout the state of Florida
and parts of Georgia and Alabama.
In a now national struggle to keep healthcare costs low (including blood costs),
FBS has been testing blood for units collected locally as well as seeking
economies of scale by expanding the testing footprint. That footprint now goes
as far north as New Hampshire, as far east as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin
Islands, and includes states along the eastern coast of the US such as Virginia,
New Jersey and New York, as well as cities such as Nashville TN, and Hershey
PA and colleges in Baltimore and New Hampshire. This regional exposure allows
FBS to provide some of the most economical blood and blood products in the nation.
In a move designed to further improve that synergy, FBS has forged an agreement
for a joint testing laboratory (at our St Petersburg location) with Blood Systems
Incorporated, a large blood consortium headquartered in Phoenix, AZ. This lab,
opened on 1 Jan 2010, will be made up of employees from both organizations, and
will absorb all of the testing previously done by FBS in addition to selected
clients from BSI. The organization is called Creative Testing Solutions and it
stands to allow FBS to continue the assault on blood prices and keep our hospitals
supplied as needed.
The future of FBS will undoubtedly be as dynamic as its past as we continue to
seek innovative solutions to make the area’s blood safer and more affordable.
Come in and donate ! It’s all about LIFE !
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