For the City Times

The Community Blood Center expands its service to include Ascension St. Michael’s in Stevens Point and Ascension St. Clare’s in Weston

STEVENS POINT — The Community Blood Center (CBC) is proud to announce that it has expanded its relationship with Ascension Wisconsin to become the sole supplier of blood products transfused to local patients at Ascension St. Michael’s Hospital, Stevens Point and Ascension St. Clare’s Hospital, Weston.

Since 1955, CBC has served as the primary blood supplier to hospitals throughout the Fox Valley, Wisconsin’s = Northwoods, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This latest expansion of service represents an opportunity to further serve the patients and hospitals of Wisconsin.

“We have had a long-standing relationship with Ascension Wisconsin, and this relationship has always been predicated on serving patients in need,” says John Hagins, President and CEO of The Community Blood Center.

“Extending this relationship into central Wisconsin only underscores our commitment to our mission to ‘Connect Lives, Share Life,’ and is a responsibility that we welcome and take seriously.”

“The Community Blood Center has been the blood supplier for Ascension Wisconsin Hospital campuses in the Fox Valley as well as Merrill, Tomahawk, Rhinelander, Woodruff and Eagle River for many years,” said Ron Purkapile, Regional Director of Laboratory Services for Ascension Wisconsin. “This will align and standardize our blood product handling procedures and practices for the benefit of our patients and facilities in central and northern Wisconsin.”

Patients in Stevens Point and Weston will have the benefit of a dependable blood supply from a local organization that hosts over 100 mobile blood drives monthly, in addition to walk-in locations in Appleton, Oshkosh, Little Chute, and Woodruff, Wis. As John Hagins of CBC mentions, it is providing care for these patients that is central to CBC’s mission.

“There simply is no substitute for human blood,” Hagins explains. “We are honored to begin this partnership in Stevens Point and Weston, and to provide new possibilities for patients in need.”