MISSION
STATEMENT
The mission of the Central California Blood
Center (CCBC) is to supply blood and blood products to the 31
hospitals in Fresno,
Tulare, Madera,
Kings and Mariposa
Counties.
CCBC must collect between 5,000 to 6,000 pints of blood a
month to meet the needs of our Valley community.
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 regarding 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 in 1995 the name was changed to the Central California
Blood Center (CCBC).
In, 1983, the Central
California
Blood
Center 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.
Now, the Blood Center
is expanding with a new corporate site.
The Jenny
Eller
Donor Center,
which is located at Blythe and Herndon in
Fresno, will open in the Fall of 2009.
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.