View source for Vitalant

{{Short description|Nonprofit blood bank}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Vitalant
| logo = Vitalant logo.svg
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| native_name_lang = <!-- Use ISO 639-1 code, e.g. "fr" for French. For multiple names in different languages, use {{lang|[code]|[name]}}. -->
| former_name = Blood Systems Inc.
| type = [[Non-profit]]
| industry = Hospital/health care
| founded = 1943 in [[Phoenix, Arizona]], [[United States]]
| founder = Opal Davis and Kitty Baldwin
| hq_location =
| hq_location_city = Scottsdale, Arizona
| hq_location_country = United States
| key_people =
| products = Blood and blood products
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| owner = [https://vitalant.org/ Vitalant]
| website = [https://vitalant.org/ Vitalant.org]
}}
'''Vitalant''' (formerly '''Blood Systems Inc.'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/2018/09/24/united-blood-services-rebrands-vitalant/1412151002/|title=United Blood Services in San Angelo is getting a new name to unite 127 blood center locations|website=San Angelo}}</ref>) is a [[nonprofit]] organization that collects blood from volunteer donors and provides [[blood]], [[blood products]] and services across the [[United States]]. It was founded in 1943 as the Salt River Valley Blood Bank in [[Phoenix, Arizona]].
Vitalant is the nation’s largest independent, nonprofit blood services provider exclusively focused on providing blood and comprehensive transfusion medicine services.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Purpose and Network |url=https://vitalant.org/purpose-network |website=Vitalant |access-date=29 September 2021}}</ref> The organization comprises a network of about 120 donation centers across the U.S. and are the sole blood provider to about 900 hospitals across the United States.
Vitalant is a founding member of the [[Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies]] (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) and was involved in the creation of the [[America's Blood Centers]] consortium of nonprofit blood centers.
The '''Vitalant Research Institute''' (formerly Blood Systems Research Institute) is housed in San Francisco with a second campus in Denver. VRI is supported by grants from the [[National Institute of Health]] and has [[collaborative partnerships]] with major universities and medical centers such as the [[University of California, San Francisco]], [[University of Southern California]], [[Children's National Medical Center]], [[Emory University]], [[Johns Hopkins University]], [[Cornell University]], [[University of Pittsburgh]], Children’s Medical Center, Oakland, [[U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs]], [[University of Massachusetts Medical School]], [[Massachusetts General Hospital]] and [[Harvard Medical School]] Partners AIDS Research Center.<ref>[http://www.bsrisf.org/about.html "About BSRI"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810042856/http://www.bsrisf.org/about.html |date=2017-08-10 }}. Blood Systems Research Institute. Retrieved July 15, 2010.</ref>
==Organizational history==
The main blood bank that became United Blood Services was founded in 1943 as the Salt River Valley Blood Bank in [[Phoenix, Arizona]], by Opal Davis and Kitty Baldwin. Not long after its creation, parent company Blood Systems, Inc., was formed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52895615/|work=Arizona Republic|date=March 1, 1985|title=Blood company to be honored for long service|access-date=June 6, 2020|page=B5}}</ref> Other blood banks that later became part of Blood Systems were founded in this same time period, including Blood Centers of the Pacific—whose predecessor, the Irwin Memorial Blood Bank, was founded in 1941 as the first community blood bank in the United States<ref>[http://www.americasblood.org/go.cfm?do=page.view&pid=30]. America's Blood Centers: History of Blood Banking. Retrieved July 15, 2010. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615170058/http://www.americasblood.org/go.cfm?do=Page.View&pid=30 |date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/innovators/bio_hemphill.html]. Innovators & Pioneers. Retrieved August 10, 2010. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113105422/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/innovators/bio_hemphill.html |date=November 13, 2012 }}</ref>—and the Inland Northwest Blood Center (1945).<ref>{{Cite news|work=Spokesman-Review|pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52896436/ C2]|date=September 25, 2018|title=Inland NW Blood Center? No more|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52896491/|first=Amy|last=Edelen|access-date=June 6, 2020}}</ref> Blood Systems was the first interstate blood bank, operating under multiple names; by 1967, it served 850 hospitals in 12 states.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52896241/|access-date=June 6, 2020|work=Casa Grande Dispatch|date=May 10, 1967|title=Self-Contained Bloodmobile Accommodates 5 Donors at Once|page=2}}</ref> The youngest predecessor to Vitalant, LifeSource, was created in 1987 by the merger of the Blood Center of Northern Illinois with operations of the [[American Red Cross]] in the Chicago area.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52897226/|date=January 25, 1987|work=The Life|first=Jim|last=Montalbano|title=Blood ties formed|page=9|access-date=June 6, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vitalant.org/Our-Organization/History.aspx|work=Vitalant|title=History|access-date=June 6, 2020}}</ref> The company grew through mergers with other blood centers.
On September 24, 2018, Blood Systems merged all of its existing brands under the Vitalant name. These included Lifeblood, Blood Centers of the Pacific, BloodSource, Bonfils Blood Center, Central Blood Bank, Community Blood Services, Inland Northwest Blood Center, LifeShare, LifeSource, and United Blood Services.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2018/09/24/memphis-lifeblood-rebrands-as-part-of-nationwide.html |title=Memphis Lifeblood Rebrands|date= September 24, 2018|website=www.bizjournals.com|format=PDF|access-date=2019-06-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Blood Systems unifies its blood centers under new Vitalant name|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2018/09/24/united-blood-services-now-vitalant-blood-donor-health-care/1399233002/|last=Hernandez|first=Julian Alberto|date=September 24, 2018|website=azcentral|language=en|access-date=2020-05-13}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Blood bank]]
* Lizzie's Loot, a Tucson, Arizona based charity organization that organizes blood drives and other fundraisers
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Clinical pathology]]
[[Category:Transfusion medicine]]
[[Category:Charities based in Arizona]]
[[Category:Health charities in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1943]]
[[Category:Blood products]]
[[Category:Medical and health organizations based in Arizona]]
[[Category:Blood banks in the United States]]
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