Miller-Dwan Foundation Awards Memorial Blood Centers Grant to Benefit the Northland

DULUTH, Minn., Jan. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Memorial Blood Centers (MBC), Minnesota's oldest and largest nonprofit community blood center, today announced the receipt of a $5,000 grant from the Miller-Dwan Foundation that will be used to directly benefit patients served by Northland hospitals.    

"Thanks to the generosity of the Miller-Dwan Foundation, we will now be able to make a capital purchase of a new refrigerated storage unit for our Duluth-based laboratory that will help ensure we can continue to safely deliver the specific, temperature-sensitive blood products our local hospitals require," said Mark Janzen, Ph.D., Memorial Blood Centers' Senior Director of Laboratory Medicine. "We will be replacing a less efficient refrigerator that stores leuko-reduced red blood cells—a type of blood product that is often requested by our hospital partners to treat patients, including those undergoing various cancer-related therapies." 

Leuko refers to leukocytes—also called white blood cells—which are the body's primary defense against infection.  A filtering process reduces the number of leukocytes in donated blood. When transfused, leuko-reduced red blood cells help prevent reactions of fever and chills in patients.

"To ensure the potency and effectiveness of all blood products, once donated they all require proper storage," Janzen continued. "This is our way of ensuring that every unit of blood we provide to our Northland hospital partners is as safe as possible for the patients in need. We take the safety of the patients receiving these generously donated gifts very seriously."

About Memorial Blood Centers
Memorial Blood Centers has been saving lives for over 60 years as an independent nonprofit supplying life-saving blood to area hospitals and other partners throughout the U.S. Operating 11 donor centers and conducting hundreds of blood drives each month, Memorial Blood Centers also provides comprehensive testing and expert technical services as a national leader in transfusion medicine. www.MBC.org.  

All eligible blood donors are encouraged to give generously. To make an appointment, call 1-888-GIVE-BLD or register online at www.MBC.org.

About Miller-Dwan Foundation
Since its inception in 1973, the Miller-Dwan Foundation has shared an outstanding legacy of significant and noteworthy individual philanthropy, providing more than $17 million in grant support to regional nonprofit organizations which address community health concerns. The Northland area's largest medical foundation promotes the well-being of the people of northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin and northern Michigan.  www.mdfoundation.org

SOURCE Memorial Blood Centers