View info about one of our nine neighborhood donor centers

Hoxworth Blood Center is one of the oldest community blood centers in the country. Founded in December, 1938 by a Cincinnati surgeon, Dr. Paul I. Hoxworth (pictured at right), the blood bank was established as a not-for-profit organization operating under the auspices of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

As World War II began to draw to a close, the American Red Cross turned the blood bank over to the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine in 1944. However, the Red Cross became involved with the UC Blood Transfusion Service again during the Korean War. The blood center was renamed for its founder in 1973.

In those early days, the blood bank was a one-room laboratory located in the basement of General Hospital. The staff consisted of Dr. Hoxworth's wife and three technicians. Dr. Hoxworth and other hospital doctors donated their services.

The blood bank collected approximately 2,000 units of blood annually, mainly providing whole blood for surgery and trauma cases. The blood was collected in glass bottles and could only be stored for five days.

Today, more than 300 employees staff Hoxworth's nine neighborhood donor centers, and the blood center distributes more than 200,000 blood components annually. Hoxworth serves 29 hospitals in a 17-county region in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, and relies on 350 donors daily to meet the needs of tri-state patients.

Blood is now collected in specialized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bags and red blood cells can be stored for up to 42 days. Hoxworth not only supplies red blood cells, but many other blood components, including platelets (5-day storage) and fresh frozen plasma.

From a one-room laboratory to a state-of-the-art facility with seven donor centers, Hoxworth continues to strive to provide the safest possible blood supply for the patients in our community.

In 1938, the blood bank was a one-room laboratory located in the basement of Cincinnati's General Hospital.

A blood transfusion kit a la 1938. According to an archived caption, "The materials have been carefully cleaned (the bottles into which the drawn blood flows are dried in an oven after washing), but the packed kit will be further sterilized by being kept under 15 pounds steam pressure in an autoclave for 15 minutes." (An autoclave was a container for sterilizing by superheated steam under pressure.)

A volunteer donor gives the "gift of life" in Cincinnati's first blood bank. Today, donors can donate blood at one of Hoxworth's nine neighborhood donor centers, and at mobile blood drives.

Dr. Hoxworth holds a pint of blood in 1938.

Copyright © 2007 Hoxworth Blood Center | Member: America's Blood Centers