Tuesday, April 27, 2010
 
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ALMH hosts 1st blood drive on vehicle during inaugural tour

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[April 27, 2010]  Representatives of Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce and Central Illinois Community Blood Center gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday to celebrate a new bloodmobile's first stop on an inaugural tour -- a blood drive at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

A new 40-foot vehicle will soon bring lifesaving blood to hundreds of patients in area hospitals, thanks to the foresight and generosity of Springfield's two hospitals. The Central Illinois Community Blood Center has acquired the new bloodmobile through funding from the Memorial Medical Center Foundation and St. John's Hospital.

"Our present mobile units have been on the road quite some time, and for the past several months have been plagued with reliability issues," said David Parsons, CEO of CICBC. "Patients and their doctors must be confident that blood will be available when needed, and mechanical failures have at times put that in doubt.

"Volunteer blood donors make up a vital component of the excellent medical care we have in this area, and we are very grateful to St. John's and Memorial for giving us this capability to better reach our volunteer donors in order to maintain an adequate blood supply for area patients."

The new bloodmobile has a great deal of flexibility and is equipped to efficiently hold an entire blood drive within the vehicle. It has five beds, two registration areas, two screening rooms and two power generators.

Ordered in September, the vehicle was built by MBF Industries of Sanford, Fla., on a Freightliner chassis. Fully equipped, the vehicle cost nearly $250,000. Each of the two hospitals contributed $100,000 to enable the purchase of the bloodmobile.

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Previously, CICBC had only two bloodmobiles serving the mostly rural 19-county area of central and southwestern Illinois. One, also funded by Springfield's hospitals, began serving the area in 1999. This five-bed unit has logged around 85,000 miles and allowed CICBC to collect about 50,000 units of blood. It was out of commission for nearly a year because of a fire. A second was acquired from the blood center in New Orleans when no longer needed following the exodus caused by Hurricane Katrina. This three-bed unit is being used for small blood drives. Both have presented frequent maintenance problems that may require extended service to keep them on the road.

The Central Illinois Community Blood Center was formed in 1971 by Memorial Medical Center, St. John's Hospital and the Sangamon County Medical Society and now provides blood for patients of 19 hospitals in central and southwestern Illinois. CICBC collects more than 40,000 units of blood from volunteer donors each year at its donor center, 1134 S. Seventh St. in Springfield, and through mobile blood drives in the 19 counties served by receiving hospitals.

[Text from file received]

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