Florida Georgia Blood Alliance

The Florida Georgia Blood Alliance (FGBA) is a non-profit community blood bank that supplies blood to northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The alliance began in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1942 under the name of the Jacksonville Blood Bank. In the 1980s, it expanded to include southeast Georgia, becoming the Florida Georgia Blood Alliance in the process. In 2001, it began serving the Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia, and opened a Community Donor Center. It now also serves the Low Country area of South Carolina as The Blood Alliance.

The St. Johns County Blood Bank merged with FGBA on February 20, 2005. The resulting Blood Alliance at Flagler Hospital reduced processing costs and increased the use of technology while continuing to provide blood service to Flagler Hospital.[1]

The Florida Georgia Blood Alliance has 13 community donor centers and a small fleet of mobile donation units, which are designed to support local blood drives sponsored by churches, businesses, etc. There are nine donor centers in northeast Florida, three in southeast Georgia, and one in Beaufort, South Carolina. The Blood Alliance provides all the transfusable blood products to the local hospitals of northeast Florida and select areas of Georgia and South Carolina. To donate or to schedule a drive, call The Blood Alliance at 1-888-998-2243.

A donor must be 17 years of age, or 16 with parental consent, and weigh at least 110 pounds to donate to the Florida Georgia Blood Alliance. A basic donation of one pint of whole blood consists of a medical history evaluation, blood screening and mini-physical for factors such as iron content and blood pressure, a full donation, and a short resting period. The Florida Georgia Blood Alliance maintains a donor website to track donations and health, manage appointments, and shop in a Rewards Store using points accumulated by donating. Blood donations are tested every time for disease and drug content before they are distributed to hospitals.

See also

Blood donation

References

  1. ↑ "Merger proves beneficial for blood donors, patients" St. Augustine Record, November 14, 2006

External links

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