April 11, 2010
Blood bank hopes to draw state funds for new building
by Christine Kim, KTUU



ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The state Senate's revised capital budget contains funding for several proposed projects, including millions of dollars for a new Blood Bank of Alaska building. While Gov. Sean Parnell is trying to minimize the overall capital budget, the blood bank says this is an essential resource for the state.

After 30 years of expansion in its current location, a 2007 assessment confirmed the group's need for a larger, centralized facility. The blood bank has created preliminary designs, but is now waiting for a $13.4 million grant from the state to continue the next step of planning for the project.

The blood bank draws 30,000 blood donations a year, from donors like Chris Goodrich.

"No matter how many people you see here, you always want to see more," Goodrich said. "You hear about the statistics of what levels are being met, you realize there's always more people that can come in."
But the blood bank says the building is at capacity, and it needs to move.

"When we moved into this building back in the early 1980s, we only occupied the first floor of this building," said the blood bank's CEO, Jack Williams. "Today we occupy not only the first floor but the second floor, and we have this much space again in other spots around town."
Preliminary designs show a 57,000-square-foot facility meant to consolidate most of the group's services under one roof. It also calls for a bigger lab, which would be three times the size of the current one.
"If we're going to keep up with the advancing medical needs and be able to keep more patients in Alaska, we're going to have to have more advanced products and services here and available to support our hospitals," Williams said.

The blood bank says one hurdle is not being able to test samples of blood in its own facility. Units of blood currently sit on the shelves for a few days while samples are shipped Outside for testing.

"There are times, such as when (Mt.) Redoubt went off recently or during 9/11 when the airspace was closed, that we can't fly our tubes for a few days," Williams said. "Because we need that data back in order to release the product to be drawn into inventory, within about three or four days it starts becoming very critical to us."

The new facility would allow testing in-house, which the blood bank says would reduce time and cost. It would also house the mobile blood banks that pick up almost half the blood collected.

The blood bank would need a total of $49 million to complete the project, but for now it's waiting to see if money from the state will come through -- and it says it's holding onto a hope that it will.

Blood bank officials say the only way to expand the current building is to create a parking garage, but that option wouldn't be as cost-effective.
Once plans are in place, the blood bank says it will rely on donations, grants, and money from the sale of the current building to come up with the rest of the funds to complete the project.