Memorial Blood Centers is a blood bank in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, United States. It is a division of Innovative Blood Resources (IBR), and supplies blood to hospitals and clinic partners, national blood centers, biotechnology companies, research institutions, in the US and abroad. The blood bank is a member of

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 ...

, the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA), American Association of Blood Banks ( AABB), and Blood Centers of America. It is not affiliated with the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. IBR was formed in 2010 as a merger of Memorial Blood Centers and Nebraska Community Blood Bank to mitigate the increasing costs of blood collection and testing. It formed a strategic partnership with

New York Blood Center The New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a community, nonprofit blood bank based in New York City. Established in 1964 by Dr. Aaron Kellner, NYBC supplies blood to approximately 200 hospitals in the Northeast United States. NYBC and its operating divi ...

(NYBC) in 2016 to give them access to blood donors in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

History

Formed in 1948, as War Memorial Blood Bank, the name was changed in 1985 to Memorial Blood Centers. In 1992, the Minnesota Supreme Court reviewed the case of testing blood by donors when a woman was infected with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

because she received two units of packed red blood cells. The two units of blood were sent by Red Cross to Memorial under terms of a reciprocal blood-sharing agreement. Memorial stored the blood until it was sold to Fairview Southdale Hospital for the woman's transfusion. In 2000, additional donor centers opened in Hibbing, Coon Rapids,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Eden Prairie Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...

, and Bloomington. MBC moved to a new headquarters in St. Paul, with new laboratory facilities to provide

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

testing and transfusion consultation, participating in the rare blood types donor program, and providing families and organizations with

parentage testing DNA paternity testing is the use of DNA profiles to determine whether an individual is the biological parent of another individual. Paternity testing can be especially important when the rights and duties of the father are in issue and a child' ...

and medical testing services for

immigration to the United States Immigration has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than a ...

. MBC was named Associate Member of the Year in 2007 by the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA), and was among the first group of blood centers in the nation to implement

ISBT 128 ISBT 128 is a global standard for the identification, labeling, and information transfer of medical products of human origin (MPHO) across international borders and disparate health care systems. MPHO includes blood, cells, tissues, breast milk, hum ...

, an internationally standardized blood product labeling system designed to improve quality and safety. Blood donations surpassed 125,000 in 2008 and increased 20% from 2006 to 2009. MBC also received the 2008 Minnesota Quality Award. In August, 2007 the 35W Bridge in Minnesota collapsed, and MBC supplied blood to the nearest hospital, Hennepin County Medical Center. As a result of 72 hours of continuous national publicity, MBC received over 11,000 phone calls in the two days following the disaster. The usual collection of about 400 units/day was doubled to almost 800 units and on the second day after the disaster (August 3 2007) the blood center issued press releases stating that the immediate needs had been met. In December 2007, a

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

was stolen containing MBC donor's personal information, resulting in a

data breach A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, info ...

affecting 268,000 MBC blood donors The laptop included US

Social Security number In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to ...

s, which MBC had been using to verify that donors were eligible to donate blood. Following the theft, Memorial stopped using Social Security numbers to identify donors. In 2008, the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

and Memorial Blood Centers created "First Responder's Day". In 2010, MBC received the Minnesota Quality Award. In 2012, MBC merged with Nebraska Community Blood Bank. In 2014, Memorial Blood Centers began providing

blood type A blood type (also known as a blood group) is a classification of blood, based on the presence and absence of antibodies and inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrate ...

O negative

red blood cells Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek language, Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''k ...

air ambulance Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...

s. It began screening for

babesia ''Babesia'', also called ''Nuttallia'', is an apicomplexan parasite that infects red blood cells and is transmitted by ticks. Originally discovered by the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeș in 1888, over 100 species of ''Babesia'' have since ...

in 2015 and zika in 2016. In 2015, Donald C. Berglund, CEO was compensated $342,201 salary plus $112,297 for a total compensation package of $454,498. Dr. Jed Gorlin, Medical Director, received a salary of $378,685 and $78,911 to total $457,596. This surpasses the $150,000 median

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

salary in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

by 205%.

Laboratory services

MBC conducts

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 ...

at the Pelham Boulevard office in St. Paul, and develops blood products which are tested and processed. MBC works with Be the Match, the National Marrow Donor Program to provide collection, processing, cryopreservation, storage and infusion support services. MBC staff also provide

continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United ...

and transfusion support consultancy.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.mbc.org
Innovative Blood Resources
Blood banks in the United States Medical and health organizations based in Minnesota Organizations based in Saint Paul, Minnesota Organizations established in 1946 1946 establishments in Minnesota