Contact:
Lisa Koeppen
Interim Marketing & Communications Manager Manager
Community Blood Center
www.communityblood.org
C: (920) 422-3251
APPLETON/FOX CITIES, May 20, 2015 – On Monday, May 25, the Community Blood Center will celebrate 60 years of service to the Fox Cities. It all began in February of 1954. The Outagamie County Medical Society voted to form a community blood donor program. Blood would be supplied to St. Elizabeth Hospital, and Kaukauna Community Hospital, then under construction. By October of 1954, the King’s Daughters Service Circles of Appleton agreed to sponsor an independent blood bank. About 150 women from five area circles of King’s Daughters were involved in the project. On May 18, 1955, the Community Blood Center opened its doors in the City Hall building, and the first blood donors were the husbands of the King’s Daughters.
Throughout its history, the Community Blood Center has worked diligently to supply the blood and blood components to the hospitals it serves. The Fox Valley area has grown steadily in population over the last several decades. In 1955, only 877 units of blood were collected by the end of the blood center’s first year. In 1995, about 21,000 units of blood were collected. Now in 2015, more than 60,000 blood donations will be needed. Both the number of medical procedures performed in our area and the patients using local medical facilities has increased. As a result, the need for blood donations has risen almost yearly.
During the Month of May we have been distributing commemorative 60th Anniversary pins to donors. Saturday, May 23 – 25 the blood center will be celebrating at all of its open locations (Appleton, Oshkosh, and Little Chute). Cake will be on-hand for the blood donors to come help us celebrate. Past and future donors please stop by to pick up your pin and celebrate with us by enjoying a piece of cake.
The Community Blood Center is a non-profit organization that has worked with generous blood donors to provide a steady, reliable blood supply for hospital patients. Volunteers who donate blood support the local blood supply at 18 hospitals in Wisconsin and Michigan. Partnerships are created with community groups, schools, churches, and businesses to hold over 125 blood drives each month. Blood and blood product donations are needed every day to meet the needs of community hospital patients. Appointments may be made online at www.communityblood.org or by calling 800-280-4102.
