For Immediate Release
Denise Fields | Marketing & Communications Manager
859.519.3721 | 859.333.2022 (cell)
dfields@kybloodcenter.org
From Paducah to Pikeville …KBC expanding service area statewide
Lexington, KY – Kentucky Blood Center is expanding to cover more hospitals and patients across the Commonwealth, which will help fill the gap in the state’s growing demand for blood.
Beginning March 1, 2017, Kentucky Blood Center (KBC) will become the sole provider of blood products for Baptist Health System (BHS). KBC has been providing blood products for Baptist hospitals in Lexington, Corbin and Richmond for many years and will now add Baptist hospitals in Louisville, LaGrange and Paducah.
To help support Kentucky patients and to prepare for the increase in hospitals, KBC opened a donor center in Middletown two years ago and began holding mobile blood drives soon after. KBC plans to open another Louisville donor center in the south end of Jefferson County next year and also ramp up donation opportunities in the Louisville area.
“KBC is now the premiere blood center supporting patients at hospitals throughout the Commonwealth from Pikeville to Paducah,” said KBC President and CEO Bill Reed. “We are a community blood center, headquartered in Lexington and serving the entire state. We are delighted to work with BHS and look forward to sharing our life-saving mission with even more Kentuckians.”
Besides the Middletown location that is located on Shelbyville Road near Buffalo Wild Wings, Target and Walmart, KBC has four donor centers in Lexington, Pikeville and Somerset and will add a center in Paducah in 2017.
At the Middletown Donor Center, as in all the other KBC centers, donors are now also able to give platelet pheresis donations and become part of the Golden Passport Rewards Program. Platelet pheresis is a specialized automated donation process that allows the donor to give only platelets, a blood component that is in high demand for cancer patients who are undergoing treatments. Because platelets only last five days, the need for platelet donors is constant.
Special holiday thank you items for donors beginning Saturday
In addition to preparing to serve more hospitals in 2017, KBC is also preparing for the holiday season to prevent blood supply shortages, which can often occur during December when donations can decline because people are traveling, schools are closed and colds and flu hit. To encourage people to give blood this month, KBC is offering some special thank you items. Beginning Dec. 17 through Dec. 31, anyone who registers to give at a KBC donor center will receive two passes to an area cinema. At blood drives, donors will receive a $10 gift card Dec. 17-24, and starting Dec. 26 they will get a colorful KBC hoodie. KBC will be closed Christmas and New Year’s Day.
KBC supports more than 70 Kentucky hospitals and clinics with blood and blood products.
For more information about KBC and blood donation, visit kybloodcenter.org or call 800.775.2522.
About Kentucky Blood Center
Founded nearly 50 years ago, KBC is the largest independent, full-service, non-profit blood center in Kentucky. Licensed by the FDA, KBC’s sole purpose is to collect, process and distribute blood for patients in Kentucky.
