14 Mar 2023

After FDA Issues Draft Guidance on Donor Eligibility, ImpactLife Plans for Change

By Kirby Winn

DAVENPORT, IOWA (March 14, 2023) — Leaders at ImpactLife are preparing for potential changes to eligibility requirements for blood donation after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance on donor eligibility in late January. The FDA draft guidance proposes a shift that will create more equitable donor-eligibility standards for prospective blood-donors by using gender-inclusive, individual sexual behavior-based questions in pre-donation screening.

21 Feb 2023

Donors Needed as ImpactLife Experiences Losses from Winter Storm

By Kirby Winn

DAVENPORT, IOWA (February 16, 2023) — The winter storm moving through the ImpactLife service region could cost our region’s blood supply hundreds of donations in the next 24 to 48 hours. Winter weather is leading to canceled blood drives and missed appointments due to unsafe travel conditions in parts of eastern Iowa, western Illinois, and southern Wisconsin. The storm will affect the rate of blood donation, but the use of blood at hospitals served by ImpactLife remains constant.

15 Feb 2023

“Share What’s in Your Heart” — ImpactLife Shares Social-Media Toolkit for Heart Health Awareness

By Kirby Winn

DAVENPORT, IOWA (February 15, 2023) — Inviting blood donors to “Share What’s in Your Heart,” ImpactLife has developed a social-media toolkit for heart health awareness during February’s heart month. Ongoing treatment of heart disease is among the leading reasons blood transfusions are given to patients, particularly for those who require surgery or develop anemia.

13 Dec 2022

ImpactLife Responds to Decrease in Rate of First-Time Blood Donors

By Kirby Winn

DAVENPORT, IOWA (December 13, 2022) — ImpactLife is responding to a substantial decrease in the rate of first-time blood donors by offering a $25 electronic gift card or donation to Feeding America for first-time donors with ImpactLife. Now through January 15, first-time donors who register for blood donation with ImpactLife will receive a voucher to redeem for a $25 electronic gift card.

30 Aug 2022

ImpactLife Announces Special Hours for Blood Collection on Labor Day

By Kirby Winn

Shyneeta Rush with her nephew, Mykale, on an ImpactLife donor bus

19 Jul 2022

ImpactLife Increases Value of e-Gift Cards for Donations Made at Select Donor Centers

By Kirby Winn

DAVENPORT, IOWA (July 19, 2022) — Due to ongoing concern over the rate of blood donation during the summer months, ImpactLife will temporarily increase the value of electronic gift cards given to donors who give blood at one of the 22 specific ImpactLife donor center locations (see list of donor center locations at 

13 Jun 2022

Decrease in Rate of Blood Donation in First Weeks of Summer Cause for Concern; Urgent Need for All Types

By Kirby Winn

DAVENPORT, IOWA (June 13, 2022) — Facing an urgent need for additional donors, ImpactLife asks all eligible and potential donors to schedule appointments to give blood during the week of World Blood Donor Day (Tuesday, June 14). ImpactLife is responding to a decrease in the rate of blood donation during the first weeks of summer that means our region’s blood supply is now approaching critical levels.

02 Jun 2022

ImpactLife Donors Provide $10,000 in Support of Ukraine Relief Fund

By Kirby Winn

DAVENPORT, IOWA (June 2, 2022) — More than 550 supporters have helped ImpactLife reach its goal of donating $10,000 for the Blood Centers of America Ukraine Relief Fund.

15 Nov 2010

New Blood Donation Site to Open Monday, November 15

By Kirby Winn

Davenport, Iowa - Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center will begin welcoming blood donors to its new Donor Center in Moline with a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Monday, November 15. The new Donor Center is located at 3600 16th Street in Moline (at the southeast corner of 16th St. and 36th Ave.). Blood donors will join MVRBC staff and officials from the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce in officially opening the site.

Previously, the Blood Center operated Donor Centers that were located about four miles apart along Hwy. 5 (John Deere Road / Blackhawk Road) Moline and Rock Island. The new site is located about halfway between those locations, which are now closed. "Our new site has more space, more donor beds and more appointment slots," said Kirby Winn, Director of Public Relations. "It all adds up to more opportunities for blood donors to help patients at local hospitals."

Donors may schedule appointments by contacting MVRBC at (563) 359-5401 or online at www.bloodcenter.org. Hours of operation at the new location are:

Mondays & Thursdays: 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.

Tuesdays & Wednesdays: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Fridays & Saturdays: 7-11:30 a.m.

The community is invited to attend an Open House at the new location from 8:30 - 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 4. Coffee, hot chocolate and bagels will be provided during the Open House, which will give current and prospective blood donors an opportunity to tour the location and learn about blood donation and the Blood Center's role in the community.

MVRBC is the provider of blood and blood components used for transfusion at all Quad City Area Hospitals. Working together with volunteer donors, MVRBC provides more than 25,000 units of blood and components each year to Genesis Medical Center hospitals in Davenport, DeWitt and Silvis; Hammond-Henry Hospital in Geneseo; Mercy Medical Center in Clinton; Select Specialty Hospital in Davenport and Trinity Regional Health System hospitals in Bettendorf, Moline, Muscatine and Rock Island. From its headquarters in Davenport, MVRBC serves a total of 75 hospitals in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin. For additional information, see www.bloodcenter.org.

-end-

20 Apr 2010

MVRBC to host Gov. Chet Culver for bill-signing

By Kirby Winn

Iowa Governor Chet Culver plans bill-signing ceremony at Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center; law supports cost containment, promotes job growth by ending tax on blood testing reagents, equipment.

Davenport, Iowa -- Iowa Governor Chet Culver will visit the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC) later this week to sign a new law that will assist MVRBC in developing a regional testing laboratory with other Midwestern blood centers. The bill-signing ceremony is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 21 at MVRBC's Headquarters building (5500 Lakeview Pkwy., Davenport). State Senator Joe Seng, who sponsored the bill, will also attend the ceremony.

The bill includes a provision that would exempt a planned regional testing laboratory from paying state sales tax on testing reagents and equipment, a tax that currently costs MVRBC more than $400,000 annually. It received bipartisan support from all of the Iowa Quad Cities' legislative representatives. "This tax is ultimately paid by the hospitals and patients we serve," said MVRBC President David Green, noting that Iowa was the only state in the Midwest to tax not-for-profit community blood centers on their testing reagents and equipment. "We are grateful for the efforts of Sen. Seng and his colleagues in Des Moines to end this unfair tax and we are pleased that Gov. Culver has chosen our facility as the location where the bill will become law."

The regional testing laboratory would consolidate testing of blood donations for a group of Midwestern blood centers. Participating blood centers would lower their testing costs by integrating testing operations at a single location to leverage economies of scale. "Testing every unit ensures the products we provide to hospitals are safe, and that is our first obligation," said Green. "But there is a substantial fixed cost in running a laboratory to test blood. We will contain those costs by working together with others who have similar needs."

While it will help contain the cost of healthcare, the tax exemption on testing reagents and equipment is also viewed as an economic development bill because the tax, which is not assessed in neighboring states, was an impediment to locating the laboratory in Iowa. "This law helps us retain and grow high-quality jobs in our community as we continue our role in providing a critical resource to hospitals throughout our region," said Green.

If the regional laboratory is not developed in Iowa by January 2011, the tax exemption will expire. Discussions about the size and scope of the regional laboratory are ongoing.

Announcements of which centers are involved and the number of staff that would be hired to work in the laboratory cannot be made until agreements are finalized. "By signing the tax exemption into law, Gov. Culver allows to move forward in those discussions knowing we can locate this project in Iowa without paying an unfair tax on the purchase of testing reagents," said Green.

-end-


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