Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center began operations, independent of the Medical Society on January 1, 1975, and began meeting the blood and blood component needs of patients being treated in 80 hospitals in the 16-county region. Today, The Blood Center has grown to serve more than 220 hospitals and health care institutions in a 25-county Texas Gulf Coast, Brazos Valley and East Texas regions.

Regional patient blood needs require that The Blood Center collect more than 308,500 units of blood and blood components from volunteer blood donors in 2008. Two hundred thousand of these units are whole blood donations, which may be separated into their component parts (red blood cells, plasma and platelets) to serve the specific transfusion needs of patients. An average of three components are available from each whole blood donation. Annual usage in this region exceeds over 720,000 units of blood and blood components.

The Blood Center operates conveniently located permanent Neighborhood Donor Centers in the greater Houston and East Texas area and conducts regularly scheduled collection activity at additional hospital locations.

Recognized worldwide for its quality assurance programming, state of the art technologies and management expertise, The Blood Center has received the Organizational Excellence Award from the Greater Houston Partnership and the University of Houston's Center for Organizational Research and Effectiveness. The Blood Center is a member of AABB, Blood Centers of America, South Central Association of Blood Banks, the Texas Medical Center and America's Blood Centers.

Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is a proud member of America's Blood Centers and AABB. We thought you might appreciate some more information about these two important organizations.

Founded in 1962, America's Blood Centers is an international network of independent, nonprofit community blood centers located in 46 states and Canada. Together, members of America's Blood Centers are the nation's largest providers of blood products and services, serving more than 125 million people at 450 blood donation sites. ABC members subscribe to a community-based blood banking philosophy. That means community donors know that the blood they give stays in that community first - helping family members, friends and neighbors. Excess supply is shared with other communities who need it most. For more information on America's Blood Centers, call them toll-free at 1 (888) USBLOOD or visit the America's Blood Center website.

The AABB, established in 1947, is an international association of blood banks, including hospital and community blood centers, transfusion and transplantation services and individuals involved in activities related to transfusion and transplantation medicine. It consists of nearly 2,000 institutions and 8,000 individuals, and is dedicated to encouraging the voluntary donation of blood and other tissues and organs through education, public information and research.

AABB's mission is to establish and promote the highest standard of care for patients and donors in all aspects of blood banking; transfusion medicine; hematopoietic, cellular and gene therapies; and tissue transplantation. AABB's international mission is to coordinate and promote improvements in blood banking and transfusion safety internationally by supporting the development of national and/or regional standards, as well as development of mechanisms for assessing compliance with those standards. For additional information about the AABB, please visit their website.

The Blood Center is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization and is accredited, licensed and inspected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicare, AABB as well as local and state authorities.