Memorial Blood Centers is a nonprofit, community blood center supplying blood and components to 31 hospitals in the Twin Cities, northern Minnesota, and northwestern Wisconsin.

Memorial Blood Centers is a leader in transfusion medicine, providing expert technical services to clients throughout the country. The services Memorial Blood Centers provides include consulting, parentage testing, reference laboratory work, virology testing, research, and organ, stem cell, and marrow transplantation support services.

Whether providing blood components or technical and biomedical support, Memorial Blood Centers considers the services it provides an excellent example of being a quality partner in the critical field of community healthcare.

Contact Information
Memorial Blood Centers
737 Pelham Blvd
St. Paul, MN 55114

About Blood Donation
Few tissues or components are as universal as blood is in the treatment and cure of illnesses and the management of chronic diseases. There is no synthetic substitute for blood and it is perishable. The demand is constant, and the supply is not.

Facts and Figures

• One unit of blood can be separated into three components: red blood cells, plasma, and platelets - saving three people's lives. 
• Anyone in good health, at least 17 years old and at least 110 pounds, can donate blood every 56 days. 
• 60 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, only five percent do. 
• 4.5 million lives are saved each year by blood transfusions in this country. 
• 14 tests, 11 for infectious diseases, are performed on each unit of donated blood. 
• Car accident and blood loss victims can need transfusions of 50 pints or more of red blood cells. 
• Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy benefit from frequent transfusions: their treatment attacks all dividing cells, including healthy cells such as one's bone marrow.

Resources for Individuals 
Memorial Blood Centers offers the following resources for individuals:

• Children's Transplant Services: Children with cancer are able to donate their own white blood cells, bone marrow, and stem cells to be used for their own transplant at a later date. Memorial Blood Center staff will go to their hospital room to gather these, then bring them back after the child's chemotherapy is treated

• Apheresis Angels: Memorial Blood Centers' Apheresis Angels Program pairs special-blood-needs patients with specifically matched donors.  While most people who receive blood transfusions need only a match from the eight types (O+, O-, A+,A-, B+, B-, AB+ and AB-), others require more specifically matched blood products.  Sometimes frequently transfused patients no longer respond to transfusion treatment as expected.  A patient who receives multiple transfusions from many donors may build up antibodies to different antigens that naturally occur on another person's platelets.  A platelet transfusion from a donor who has the same or similar antigens are generally more successful.  Apheresis Angels are blood donors who agree to have their blood HLA typed and be on call to donate for specific patients.

• The Sickle Cell Disease Program: Sickle cell disease is a blood disease affecting primarily individuals of African descent.  it is caused by an altered inherited form of hemoglobin, a protein that enables red blood cells to carry oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body.  Red blood cells with normal hemoglobin are smooth and round and they glide easily through the blood vessels.  In the bodies of people with sickle cell disease, the cells assume a curved or sickle shape, becoming hard and sticky, thus blocking blood flow and causing organ damage.  The Sickle Cell Donor Program recruits African-Americans to donate blood and be tested for the sickle cell trait.  Those who are sickle trait negative are candidates to donate for sickle cell disease patients.

Memorial Blood Centers offers the following resources for employers and the community at large:

Employer Resources

• Host a blood drive.
• Presentation: My Blood, Your Blood
• Blood center tours for schools or professional organizations. 
• Clinical rotations for medical technology students, medical lab technician students, medical students, medical residents, and post-doc fellows. 

Community Resources

• Blood center tours for schools or professional organizations.
• American Indian Wellness Fair.
• Juneteenth
• Numerous health fairs throughout the year