Bloodworks Northwest is a

blood bank A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laborat ...

and

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...

institute headquartered in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, that serves 90 hospitals in

western Washington Western Washington is a region of the United States defined as the area of Washington state west of the Cascade Mountains. This region is home to the state's largest city, Seattle, the state capital, Olympia, and most of the state's residents. The ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. It has formerly been known as the Puget Sound Blood Center and King County Central Blood Bank. The organization is accredited by AABB (formerly the

American Association of Blood Banks American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

), licensed by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

; and holds membership in

America's Blood Centers Founded in 1962, America's Blood Centers (ABC) is an association of independent non-profit blood centers that operates in Canada and the United States. ABC member organizations operate more than 600 blood collection sites providing close to 60 per ...

(ABC), Blood Centers of America (BCA), and the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services (ACTS).

History

Bloodworks Northwest was founded in 1944 as the King County Central Blood Bank. Its first director, Richard Czajkowski, was retained the same year, leading the organization until his retirement in 1967. Originally serving hospitals in

King County, Washington King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

, King County Central Blood Bank gradually expanded its service area to include Kitsap, Whatcom, Skagit, Mason, Thurston, Jefferson, and Clallam counties. In 1974 it was renamed Puget Sound Blood Center to better reflect its growing geography. In 1991 the reach of Puget Sound Blood Center expanded further when it was merged with the Snohomish-Island Counties Blood Bank. The blood bank rebranded itself again in 2015, adopting the name Bloodworks Northwest.

Operations

Bloodworks Northwest operates 12 donation centers in western Washington, as well as mobile donation vehicles. Bloodworks Northwest claims it collects about 900 units of blood each day. Bloodworks Northwest also partners with western Washington hospitals to collect and preserve

umbilical cord In placental mammals, the umbilical cord (also called the navel string, birth cord or ''funiculus umbilicalis'') is a conduit between the developing embryo or fetus and the placenta. During prenatal development, the umbilical cord is physiologic ...

blood from new mothers, which are harvested for

stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

used in research and cancer treatment. The cord blood program was initiated in 1998 with a start-up grant from the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

. In addition to its blood transfusion programs, Bloodworks Northwest also operates a

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

research institute. The Bloodworks Northwest Research Institute is housed in a facility in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle. According to the organization, it employs a scientific staff of about 70.

References

External links

Bloodworks Northwest official site
{{authority control Blood banks in the United States First Hill, Seattle Research institutes in Seattle Non-profit organizations based in Seattle Medical and health organizations based in Washington (state) Medical research institutes in the United States