65 years and growing
MEDIC celebrates anniversary, expansion in Farragut
“We’re glad for the partnership with the Chamber and all of your support,” MEDIC president/CEO Alan Watson said. “We want to welcome you to our expanding Farragut donor center.”
He said the donor center opened in 2007, and “after 14 years of growth and collection volumes, it became clear that MEDIC would need additional space to adequately serve donors in Farragut, West Knoxville — and we actually see a lot of donors, even, from Loudon County.
“The vision for this expansion started with our recently retired chief executive officer, Jim Decker,” Watson added. “Also, our board of directors was involved in this and our leadership team. The vision actually started a little over two years ago.
“Today, we’re proud to share this beautiful facility with our friends here in Farragut and West Knoxville.”
“We were able to add three more beds and a fourth screening booth as well as office space,” said Kristy Altman, MEDIC vice president of communications and public relations. “We are very excited about the expansion,” which was completed Aug. 22.
“We are thrilled with the updates and added space to serve our amazing volunteers and this community,” she added.
About MEDIC’s 65th anniversary, Watson referenced March 25, 1958: “Dr. Carl Nelson (under the sponsorship of) Knoxville Academy of Medicine established MEDIC as a not-for-profit center that would serve the blood supply for our area hospitals.”
“MEDIC is a nonprofit organization and offers a Blood Coverage Program, covering members’ blood supplier processing fees at any hospital in the country,” Altman said. “MEDIC is an accredited member of AABB, formerly the American Association of Blood Banks, and America’s Blood Centers.
“MEDIC also is a member of the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services, Blood Centers of America and the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps,” she added.
An independent center, Altman said it “adheres to all blood product safety regulations established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is licensed by the (FDA) and the State of Tennessee.
“Today, MEDIC collects blood and blood products at four fixed-site centers,” Watson said.
“We host five to seven mobile drives daily and serve 24 hospitals in 22 counties in Tennessee and three hospitals in southeast Kentucky as well,” he added.
MEDIC also recently began servicing a new emergency room at a hospital in Jamestown.
“In 2022, we collected 51,000 red blood cell units,” Watson said. “Fifty-four percent of those were collected through our mobile drives and 46 percent through fixed sites like our Farragut center.
“We also collected almost 8,000 platelets units in 2022,” he added. “It takes all of that blood to service our hospitals throughout this area.”
