Message from the Board Chair

Friends,

During each and every day the organization we fondly call the Blood Center has a lifesaving impact on our community, including hundreds of our neighbors and friends.

The sudden need for a transfusion due to trauma or for treatment due to illness is something each of us could face as we move along life’s journey. The Blood Center is dedicated to assuring that we have a safe and readily available blood supply to meet those needs.

Research taking place at the Blood Center has shed light on the mysteries of this liquid that keeps us alive, and significantly improved our health care and well being. Blood Center research has led to improvements in transfusion medicine worldwide, and we are expanding our research to address new health challenges. In the near future the Blood Center will open a center for thrombosis study, which will focus on revealing the role clotting plays in strokes, the world’s leading cause of death.

The Blood Center is a unique organization. As much as it impacts our lives by what it offers, the Blood Center itself is strongly influenced by its connection with and reliance upon the volunteers needed to make its work possible.

As the largest volunteer organization in the state of Washington, the Blood Center has hundreds of volunteers who choose to give their time to donate blood, register blood donors, help donors with refreshments, set up and organize blood drives, help with transportation needs and more. High school students, retirees, teachers, social club members, police officers, firefighters, city employees, insurance workers… people from all walks of life come together for the Blood Center and make a difference. Through their efforts, these volunteers are saving lives.

I am proud to be a part of Puget Sound Blood Center and look forward to a year of continued healthcare and research advances. I also look forward to meeting you, the volunteers who make it all possible.

Barbara C. Sherland, Chair
Board of Trustees