The Vitalant Blood Donation Center, which opened in October and has taken over St. Mary's Medical Center's blood collection efforts, is located at 561 25 Rd. Suite 102B.
The Vitalant Blood Donation Center, which opened in October and has taken over St. Mary's Medical Center's blood collection efforts, is located at 561 25 Rd. Suite 102B.
Submitted by St. Mary's Medical Center
Vitalant, the nation’s largest independent nonprofit blood services provider, has partnered with St. Mary’s Medical Center to transition its blood collection operations to its new donation center.
The St. Mary’s Regional Blood Donor Center collected its final donation Aug. 12 after more than 70 years. After an eight-week pause in collecting blood donations, the St. Mary’s Regional Blood Donor Center transitioned its blood collection services to Vitalant, which opened a new donation center at 561 25 Road, Suite 102B in Grand Junction in early October.
Vitalant Communications Manager Brooke Way said that the move has been a success so far through almost two months.
“Oh my goodness, it’s gone fantastic,” Way said. “We’ve already seen so many donors who are loyal to St. Mary’s come over to the Vitalant center, and it’s been so fantastic to see because they told us, ‘We love giving back, we love giving blood,’ and we wanted to make sure that we continued to do so through Vitalant.”
SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL
The Vitalant bloodmobile sits outside the Vitalant Blood Donation Center at 561 25 Road, Suite 102B.
Submitted by St. Mary's Medical Center
Vitalant’s Colorado headquarters and lab is located in the Lowry neighborhood area of Denver. All blood donations collected around the state by Vitalant each day are sent to this centralized processing facility, where they’re separated into components. Once the blood donations are typed, tested and ready for hospital use, they’re distributed to hospitals to support the needs of patients across the state.
“It comes back to that Lowry lab, and what they do is they process the blood, they make sure it’s typed right, all blood goes through testing for any diseases or anything like that. ... and basically, they’re basically getting everything ready to be sent to the hospitals,” Way said.
The Vitalant blood donation center in Grand Junction is open to blood, platelet and plasma donors five days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Vitalant has also committed to hosting frequent community blood drives across the Western Slope using its bloodmobile and will also host blood drives at businesses, churches and schools in the region — like St. Mary’s before it.
“We are so grateful to the community in Grand Junction for welcoming us,” Way said. “They’ve been so positive and welcoming. We’re just so happy to be in that community serving the Western Slope, and we’re excited to continue to do so and hold blood drives in the area.”
