Within one year of its 1974 founding at the direction of the Richmond Academy of Medicine, Richmond Metropolitan Blood Service - now Virginia Blood Services (VBS) - took Richmond from a haphazard system of paid and volunteer blood sources to an all volunteer blood supply.

Virginia Blood Services...

1. Is a private, nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation providing patient services throughout central Virginia. VBS is not affiliated with the American Red Cross.



2. Employs more than 260 people and annually conducts more than 2,700 blood drives and collects nearly 130,000 donations.



3. Supplies all hospitals and numerous dialysis centers and home health agencies in Richmond, Charlottesville, Farmville, Fishersville, Emporia, Harrisonburg, Hopewell, Petersburg, South Hill and the Staunton/Waynesboro area.



4. Provides the blood for nearly two thirds of the patients receiving organ transplants in Virginia.



5. Operates eight donor centers: two in Richmond and one each in Chester, Glen Allen, Charlottesville, Fishersville and Harrisonburg.



6. Is one of the largest volunteer efforts in central Virginia. Last year nearly 70,000 volunteers donated blood with VBS.



7. Receives excellent inspection reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Medicare and AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks).



8. Is governed by a volunteer board of directors made up of local medical and business leaders and counseled by a medical advisory committee comprised of prominent physicians.



9. Receives no governmental or United Way funding. Funding comes almost entirely from processing fees that are a portion of a patient's transfusion charges. These fees cover the cost of salaries, benefits, supplies, vehicles, laboratory equipment and other items required to make blood safe and available.



10. Is a member of America's Blood Centers, a 77-member organization of independent, nonprofit, regional blood centers that provide half of the nation's blood supply. The rest is supplied by the American Red Cross and hospital-based programs.

Hospitals Served by Virginia Blood Services

VBS is the supplier of fresh and frozen blood components to patients in the following hospitals. Unless otherwise noted, they are in Richmond: 

VCU Medical Center (Virginia's largest hospital)
University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville (Virginia's second largest hospital)
Augusta Medical Center, Fishersville
Bon Secours Richmond hospitals:
      Memorial Regional Medical Center
      Richmond Community Hospital
      St. Francis Medical Center
      St. Mary's Hospital
Children's Hospital
Community Memorial Healthcenter, South Hill
HCA Richmond hospitals:
      CJW Medical Center (Chippenham)
      CJW Medical Center (Johnston-Willis)
      Henrico Doctors' Hospital-Forest
      Henrico Doctors' Hospital-Parham
      Retreat Hospital
Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center
John Randolph Medical Center, Hopewell
Kindred Hospital
Martha Jefferson Hospital, Charlottesville
Rockingham Memorial Hospital, Harrisonburg
Southside Community Hospital, Farmville
Southside Regional Medical Center, Petersburg
Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center, Emporia
...and all Richmond area dialysis centers