Move doubles blood bank's operating space

As the Ozarks population has grown, so has demand for the services of Community Blood Center of the Ozarks, and a larger operations center is positioning the blood bank to better meet that need.

Providing blood and blood products to 37 hospitals in 38 counties across southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas and southeast Kansas, CBCO has helped hospitals save countless lives and millions of dollars since opening in 1996.

The independent blood bank started out in 34,000 square feet of leased space at 2230 S. Glenstone Ave. - formerly a Consumer's Market.

It has now almost doubled its space in the newly renovated, 66,309-square-foot facility at 220 W. Plainview Road - formerly a Summer Fresh market.

"We love supermarkets," said Executive Director Don Thomson. "Supermarkets are big boxes, they have lots electrical power to them, they have lots of parking and are on high-visibility corners."

Several grand-opening events, including a ribbon-cutting, open house, tours and donors' Hall of Fame reception, were slated for Feb. 5.

Room to serve

CBCO purchased the Plainview Road location for $4.5 million in 2007 and performed about $5 million in renovations and additions. The project was financed with $7 million in industrial revenue bonds, $1.2 million in donations and cash reserves, and the remainder through a line of credit established by area banks.

CBCO's new operations center includes 400 parking spaces, and the building sits on 10 acres of potential expansion space.

CBCO essentially quadrupled its lab space with the move, and it added redundant freezers and refrigerators - a safety net it didn't have at its former location.

"We are positioned, physically and logistically, to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way," Thomson said.

CBCO's new facility, "is a testament to the exceptional job that CBCO staff, management and board of directors have done," said CBCO Board President Ron Prenger, vice president of clinical services at CoxHealth. He noted that the partnership between CBCO, the community and area hospitals has resulted in an efficient - and self-sufficient - blood supply for the region.

"Generating your own needs is the best way to support your community, whether it be electrical needs or blood," Thomson said.

Growing demand

No one knows how far CBCO has come better than Jim McLeod. A partner in the law firm of Lathrop & Gage, McLeod is one of CBCO's three lifetime board members. McLeod, along with Jerry Jared and the late Bill Reser, stepped forward to sign CBCO's articles of incorporation back in 1995, taking on the American Red Cross in a campaign to create an independent local blood bank.

"I think when we started, we thought if we could collect 32,000 units, well, we'd be fine to serve our area," McLeod said.

Now, however, CBCO must collect about 90,000 units to meet its communities' basic needs. It's not that CBCO's service area has expanded, he noted; it's that the population of the service area has grown.

"One thing that's sure is the demand keeps going up," McLeod said. "And that's our priority: to make sure there's enough blood to meet the demand in the areas that we serve."

CBCO now has five fixed locations where it accepts blood donations: two in Springfield, and one each in Joplin, Bentonville, Ark., Springdale, Ark. The original Springfield location on Glenstone, leased from Jared Enterprises, has become a blood collection site. CBCO's space in that building will be downsized to a little more than 3,000 square feet, and the space will be renovated and rededicated as the Bill Reser Community Donor Center, a project slated for completion at the end of March.

CBCO employs about 230 in its five locations, the majority in Springfield, and has an annual payroll of $11 million with a 2009 operating budget of $19.9 million.

Surgical necessity

From a purely humanitarian standpoint, blood is a necessity for operations. "The patient doesn't make it without blood," Thomson said.

Citing a 2007 study from the American Association of Hospital Administrators, he added that "blood is less than 1 percent of the expenses of the hospital; however it produces more than 17 percent of the revenue through the operating rooms."

CBCO is a cost-recovery nonprofit 501(c) 3 corporation, Thomson said, meaning that it charges a fee for the blood it delivers to the hospitals. CBCO charges $169 for a unit of packed red cells - the most commonly used blood product.

And while CBCO does not look to the general public for financial support, it does seek support through area blood drives sponsored by businesses, schools, civic groups and churches.

Blood drives collectively provide 90 percent of the region's blood products.

"Only about 10 percent of our blood comes in from our fixed operations," Thomson said. "We've been very successful," McLeod added, "and we couldn't do it without the support of the blood donors out there who give a piece of themselves so that we can meet the needs of the patients of the hospitals in our communities."