The Central Illinois Community Blood Center expects to offer more reliable service with its new bloodmobile, the center's executive director said Monday.
"This is just great news for the community," said David Parsons, executive director of the CICBC, a non-profit blood bank that is the only supplier of blood for 19 hospitals from Hopedale to Belleville.
Parsons and officials from St. John's Hospital and Memorial Medical Center unveiled the $242,000 vehicle, which has padded seating for five donors at a time, outside the CICBC's headquarters at 1134 S. Seventh St.
Memorial's foundation and St. John's each donated $100,000 toward the purchase, with the blood center pitching in the rest.
St. John's and Memorial are the center's largest users of blood. Together, they purchased more than 26,000 units of blood last year for their patients, blood center spokesman Lee Milner said.
The center now has three bloodmobiles - one about the same size as the new vehicle and one smaller version - so two bloodmobiles can be used on most days to give one a rest, Parsons said.
The arrangement will mean less wear-and-tear on all three vehicles and will give the center a backup bloodmobile so collections don't have to be rescheduled if one breaks down, he said.
Operating with a $12 million annual budget, the blood center collects 40,000 units of blood each year. About 6,000 of those units - or 15 percent - come from patients who donate at bloodmobiles, Parsons said.
"Those are units that we otherwise would not get," he said.
The bloodmobiles often serve donors who live or work too far from the center's main site in Springfield to travel there.
The bloodmobiles also go to sites that don't have enough indoor space to set up chairs and other equipment for blood collection, Parsons said.
St. John's and Memorial helped the center buy its oldest bloodmobile 12 years ago. The center still uses the older bloodmobile, which originally cost $132,000.
Parsons said blood center officials hope the new bloodmobile's distinctive paint job - a shiny, jet-black background with white lettering and red accents - attracts attention when the vehicle pulls into communities across central and southwestern Illinois.
Dean Olsen can be reached at 788-1543.
