Dear members and prospective members,
Thank you for taking the time to read about California Blood Bank Society or CBBS! Our organization has a long and storied history. We were founded in 1951 as a way to coordinate all of the hospital blood banks and blood centers into a statewide system. The goal was to promote uniform standards of service and education to California’s new blood banks. CBBS was a way to disseminate information relating to blood banking by education, publicity and research. In 1951, we set up the structure of our CBBS annual meeting, with technical and administrative sessions offered to all attendees of hospital blood banks and independent blood centers.
CBBS has a continuing goal of educating, developing and inspiring healthcare professionals in transfusion medicine. Many of the most well-known contributors of transfusion medicine science and education have volunteered in some capacity at CBBS. Previous CBBS presidents are a who’s who of transfusion medicine educators: Dr. George Garratty from American Red Cross (1985-1986), Dr. Ira Shulman from LAC-USC (1994-1995), Dr. Pricilla Figueroa from Cleveland Clinic (2003-2004), Dr. Joy Fridey from City of Hope/Loma Linda University (2011-2012), Dr. James Burner from UT Southwestern (2020-2021). And you don’t have to be a medical doctor to be president of CBBS–many laboratorians have been president over the years as well. As the current president of CBBS, and a blood banker, I stand on the shoulders of giants.
As you may already know, the California medical landscape has changed significantly since the founding of CBBS. The entire state of California, once served by over 30 independent blood centers and hospital-based blood centers, United Blood Services and American Red Cross chapters, is now, due to mergers and acquisitions, served by approximately 13 blood centers and hospital-based blood banks. Vitalant and American Red Cross–two national based blood providers–stock a market share of hospitals in the state. A result of this consolidation, there is less opportunity to have locally based transfusion service education opportunities and growth for transfusion service professionals.
Offering growth and educational opportunities for laboratorians and transfusion service medical staff is where CBBS shines. Because we are local, and provide virtual opportunities, we are able to provide bench techs, medical residents and transfusion fellows an opportunity to attend presentations from transfusion service professionals on the national and international stage. You – yes, YOU! – can be a contributor to your profession and ask questions of your academic heroes. All you have to do is get involved. Look around our website. Attend one of CBBS’s educational seminars. Become a member with CBBS. Volunteer with one of the CBBS committees. If you feel that CBBS is not providing an educational opportunity for a particular aspect of transfusion medicine, contact me and we will help you establish that committee with CBBS. You have more opportunities from growth in a regional blood bank society than in a national one.
I hope that you will become involved with CBBS–a 74-year old California institution–and make a difference in the transfusion community. Every member of CBBS will tell you that they joined CBBS because someone invited them to join and get involved. I personally invite you to get involved. Hope to hear from you soon and see you at the next CBBS meeting!
Warm regards,
Dianne Geary, MA, MLS (ASCP) SBB
CLS Lead, Core Laboratory
815 Pollard Road, Los Gatos, CA 95032
408-866-4065 Laboratory