American Red Cross - Northern Ohio Blood Services Region

About Us, The American Red Cross
Northern Ohio Blood Services Region

Since 1947, the American Red Cross has been one of the stewards of the nation's blood supply, assuming that imposing responsibility just after World War II had ended. At the urging of the federal government and eminent organizations including the American Medical Association and the national Research Council, the Red Cross marshaled the support of millions of Americans from coast to coast, procuring enough blood donations to meet the ongoing needs of civilians in hospitals across the country.
This was a unique effort, the very first of its kind in the nation. In 1951, the American Red Cross Blood Services, Northern Ohio Region was formed to meet the needs of patients in 19 counties in the northeast quadrant of the state. Today, the Northern Ohio Region is the primary blood provider of 61area hospitals, and is one of 36 Red Cross Blood Services regions nationwide that collects 22,000 donations each day, processes and distributes them to cover nearly half of the nation's need for blood. In 2000, the Northern Ohio Region collected 210,989 units of blood from 114,275 volunteer donors in our area. Of those donations, nearly 33 percent were from first time donors.
Source: Donor Services Manager approval, 11/22/2001

During the 1960s and 70s, advances in medical science such as the advent of open heart surgery and chemotherapy treatment for cancer created an increased demand for blood. And the Red Cross - with its vast network of trained staff, dedicated volunteers, community bloodmobiles and dedicated donors - was there to meet that need. Today, the American Red Cross remains one of the nation's lead suppliers of blood and blood products. In 2000, the Red Cross provided about half of the blood products used by hospitals nationwide. Red Cross Blood Services provides blood, blood products and tissue services with the help of numerous volunteers and donors -- a service we have provided for over 50 years.

These include:

Complete and Exhaustive Testing Methods
A national network of nine sophisticated, national laboratories where professionally-trained technologists perform all infectious disease testing, including HIV, hepatitis and syphilis, for blood donations collected in a multi-state area. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, these nine facilities test 6 million units of blood donated annually to the Red Cross - within just 17 hours of donation time! Test results are transmitted back to 36 regional Red Cross facilities electronically, to ensure the utmost in accuracy and confidentiality. The NTLs also host clinical trials for new or improved blood safety tests.

Inventory Management System
This Red Cross computerized system tracks the current inventory of an array of blood products available on any given day at 36 Red Cross blood regions nationwide. When one part of the country runs short during natural disasters, other Red Cross regions are called upon to supply blood products to provide life-saving transfusions to patients in these areas experiencing crisis.

The American Rare Donor Program
Containing over 30,000 names of rare blood donors from across the nation -- more than 400 from the Greater Cleveland area -- this Red Cross registry meets the needs of ultra-rare blood types. The Red Cross also maintains a frozen supply of rare blood, available for shipment any time of day or night to destinations around the globe. This registry is tapped daily, and responds to over 1,000 requests each year.
Source: Reference Lab Supervisor approval, 12/3/2001

Tissue and Bone Marrow Services
The Red Cross Tissue Services provides human tissue -- skin, bone, tendons and heart valves -- for reconstructive and other surgeries vital to the needs of patients in area hospitals. In addition, the National Marrow Donor Program was created in 1987 to provide marrow transplants from volunteer and unrelated donors for patients with leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphomas and other blood disorders. The Red Cross Blood Services, Northern Ohio Region serves as a local donor center and The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and University Hospitals of Cleveland both serve as collection and transplant centers locally. As of August 31, 2001, there are more than 4 million donors currently on the national registry -- 54.3% are Caucasian, 20% are from an unknown ethnicity, 8.4% are hispanic, 7.9 % are African American, 6.2 % are Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.9% are from a multiple race or another ethnicity, and 1.3% are American Indian or Alaska Native. At any given time, 3,000 patients are searching the registry for their lifesaving donor.

The Holland Laboratory
One of the largest and most prestigious blood research laboratory in the world. Operated solely by the American Red Cross, the Holland Labs are staffed by renowned scientists from around the globe who conduct and oversee dozens of scientific projects to enhance the safety, purity and potency of blood and blood products.
Source: www.marrow.org, www.redcross.org

For more information on the American Red Cross Northern Ohio Blood Services Region, please contact us at our Downtown headquarters and donor center or at one of our three other community-based donor centers.

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