September 28, 2023 – Mississippi Blood Services joins the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services (ACTS) – a strategic and operational alliance of independent blood centers committed to improving efficiency, operations, and opportunities to best serve donors and patients.
Mississippi Blood Services, based in Flowood, MS, has become the 16th independent blood center to join ACTS. The alliance was formed in 2010 to strengthen relationships between community blood programs and their local hospitals and stakeholders.
“We’re excited to add Mississippi Blood Services as a member of our alliance,” said Nelson Hellwig, MBA, chief executive officer of ACTS. “With a history of great community support and strong commitment to the community blood center model, they will further strengthen our alliance of leading blood centers.”
“We are extremely honored to join the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services,” said Christopher Swafford, president and CEO of Mississippi Blood Services. “Being part of this alliance will allow us to better serve our community through collaborative efforts with our fellow blood center members.”
About Mississippi Blood Services
Mississippi Blood Services (MBS) is a not-for-profit blood service founded in 1979. Our mission is to provide a safe and adequate supply of voluntarily donated blood and blood components for patients in hospitals and to offer related services to our hospitals and other medical facilities.
About the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services
The Alliance for Community Transfusion Services (ACTS), a not-for-profit organization, is a strategic and operational alliance of independent blood centers that annually collect, process, and distribute more than 1.9 million blood products to over 1,000 healthcare facilities and provide various technical services, therapeutic treatments and cellular laboratory operations throughout the United States. Other ACTS members include Blood Assurance (Chattanooga, TN), Bloodworks Northwest (Seattle, WA), Carter BloodCare (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX), Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank (Hershey, PA), Coastal Bend Blood Center (Corpus Christi, TX), Community Blood Center of the Ozarks (Springfield, MO), Houchin Community Blood Bank (Bakersfield, CA), LifeShare Blood Center (Shreveport, LA), MEDIC Regional Blood Center (Knoxville, TN), Our Blood Institute (Oklahoma City, OK), Shepeard Community Blood Center (Augusta, GA), South Texas Blood and Tissue (San Antonio, TX), SunCoast Blood Centers (Sarasota, FL), Midwest Blood Centers (Appleton/Wausau, WI) and We Are Blood (Austin, TX).
ACTS members collectively meet challenges and support one another through shared resources, group initiatives, and collective expertise. Through this unique collaboration, ACTS members enjoy the scaled economic benefits typically associated with large, centralized operations without sacrificing the qualitative benefits of independent, community blood banking.
ACTS also administers the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC) program, the nation’s first and only emergency blood reserve program, comprised of 35 community blood centers, and designed to quickly react to mass casualty events requiring immediate need for blood products.
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Mississippi Blood Services Media Contact:
Brittany Mitchell
(601) 368-2664
[email protected]
Alliance for Community Transfusion Services Media Contact:
Nelson Hellwig, MBA
(504) 575-2139
[email protected]