MISSION
STATEMENT
Central California Blood Center is committed to
saving lives and improving patient care by providing a safe and
abundant blood supply for the patients and families in the
communities we serve.
HISTORY OF THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
BLOOD CENTER
During World War II, a tremendous amount of
blood was drawn and transported to combat zones for the treatment of
war injuries with the encouraging result that the mortality among
our military casualties was lowered considerably.
Doctors who came home to the Central
Valley after their war service started using blood in
treating their patients, but the many local hospitals could not
obtain enough blood to fill the need.
From 1946 to 1947, a committee from the Fresno
County Medical Society was formed in response to this need.
The Valley Blood Bank opened at 366 N. Van Ness Avenue
in 1949. This proved
satisfactory until April 1953, when the California Medical
Association’s Blood Bank Commission chairman urged the Fresno County
Medical Society to establish a community shared, non-profit blood
bank.
Two years later, on June 8, 1955, the Central
California Blood Bank (CCBB) opened in a remodeled home at 2155 Amador Street.
The technical staff included two registered nurses, two
laboratory technicians and a recording secretary.
Eventually, CCBB became a big business and ran short of
space. The Blood Bank
moved to new facilities at 3425 N.
First Street in 1971.
Then, in 1983, a newer facility was built behind that
location
and the Blood Bank
expanded into the South Valley
with the opening of the
Visalia
Donor Center
on Mooney Boulevard.
Then, donor centers in Porterville
and North Fresno followed.
In 1995 the name was changed to the Central California Blood Center
(CCBC). The Blood Center
expanded once again with a new corporate site.
The Jenny
Eller
Donor Center,
which is located at Blythe and Herndon in
Fresno, opened in the Fall of 2009.
Most recently, the Jenny Eller Donor Center expanded with an
additional "bus barn" to house our bloodmobiles.
ABOUT CCBC
The
Central
California
Blood
Center is licensed by the
US Food & Drug
Administration and accredited by the
American Association
of Blood Banks. CCBC is a member of
America’s
Blood Centers, North America’s largest network of non-profit
community centers, which collects half of the
US
blood supply.