Our Blood Center has been collecting blood products from local central Texans since 1949, when the Scott & White Blood Bank was officially established (shortly after the founding of the American Association of Blood Banks – now known as AABB – in 1947). Over time, our name was changed to the Scott & White Blood Center, and then to the Baylor Scott & White Blood Center, but our roots have remained. We were originally established within the Scott & White Memorial Hospital campus, and are here to this day (albeit in slightly larger quarters!). We are what is traditionally referred to as a ‘vein to vein’ blood center – meaning all blood we collect is also processed here onsite in our Component Processing lab, and then transferred to our Transfusion Services inventory until it is issued to one of our patients in Central Texas.
Since its inception, the Blood Center has maintained a focus on quality and safety, all while striving to take care of you – our much loved donors and neighbors – with warmth, a caring attitude, and a friendly smile. Our Blood Center is highly regulated and inspected regularly by accrediting and regulatory agencies to guarantee only the safest blood products are collected for our patients, in addition to ensuring a safe and positive donation experience for our donors. We are registered with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), accredited by the AABB, and regulated by the College of American Pathologists CAP).
In the first year of operation, the Scott & White Blood Bank supplied 1,868 transfusions. Prior to 1949 blood was transfused, but not banked for any significant length of time. Blood donors had to be located from patient’s family members or paid donors, and only enough blood was collected in glass jars to meet immediate patient needs.
Fast forward to present date, in which the Blood Center collects whole blood, most of which is processed into packed red cells, fresh frozen plasma, or liquid plasma. We also collect and supply apheresis platelets, plasma and double red cells, enabling our Blood Center to meet the transfusion needs of a wide array of complex patient cases.