Staff Report
United Blood Services, well known on the Central Coast for its many mobile blood drives, has changed its name to Vitalant.
The change was announced by Blood Services, the owner of United Blood Services and nine other donation-center brands.
As one of the nation’s oldest and largest comprehensive transfusion medicine organizations serving communities across 40 states, Vitalant has 127 nationwide donation centers as well as 30,000 mobile blood drives involving more than 780,000 donors who supply 1.8 million donations per year.
Vitalant has four Central Coast donation centers that host about 85 blood drives every month. Vitalant’s national headquarters is in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The company supports nearly 1,000 hospitals and health care entities throughout the United States. In addition to blood products, Vitalant offers hospital partners transfusion services, medical consulting, guidance, ongoing education, research and more.
Nearly 5,000 blood donations are needed each day to meet the needs of people throughout the country, the company noted. At least 900 donations are needed each day to meet the needs of people throughout the region. Statistics show that nearly 60 percent of blood donations come from people over 40, and nearly 45 percent come from people older than 50. Vitalant hopes to inspire the next generation of blood donors.
For more information, go to vitalant.org.
