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 | |
 Headquarters | |
| Company type | Nonprofit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Headquarters | 1400 La Concha Lane, , U.S. |
Area served | Texas Gulf Coast, Brazos Valley and East Texas |
| Products | Whole blood and blood components |
| Website | www.giveblood.org |
Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center serves as the sole continuous provider of blood to Houston and its surrounding communities. It is one of the largest independent community blood centers in the United States serving 26 counties from the Texas Gulf Coast to Brazos Valley to East Texas.[1] The nonprofit supplies blood to more than 170 hospitals and health care institutions including the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world. Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is a proud member of the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), Blood Centers of America, South Central Association of Blood Banks, Texas Medical Center and America's Blood Centers. Operations started on January 1, 1975, with 64 employees. Today, Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center has over 650 staff members. The overall supervision of Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center's activities is the responsibility of a chief executive officer appointed by the board of trustees. Medical supervision and direction for Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center are provided by a Chief Medical Officer also appointed by the board of trustees.
Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center's mission is to partner with the community to help save and sustain lives by providing a safe supply of blood, biotherapies, and related services. There is no substitute for blood. It must be voluntarily donated by one person to be given to another. The need for different blood components–red blood cells, platelets, and plasma–is constant. Donating on an ongoing basis helps ensure blood components are always available for the patients we serve. As a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, the patients and donors served are at the heart of everything. Every donor is a hero to the families they impact each time they give blood.
To meet the blood demands in the community, Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center needs about 1,000 donations a day, and all blood donors in the U.S. must be unpaid volunteers. Those units of blood are a vital lifeline for Houston's health care industry and are used in surgeries, cancer treatments and various medical procedures. That is why Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center asks community members to Commit for Life, a partnership between the community and Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, focused on saving lives today, and in the future.
- ^ "Texas Medical Center Institutions, Greater Houston Partnership" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2009-01-04.