WE ARE NOW...

KENTUCKY BLOOD CENTER!

The new Lexington Donor Center at 3121 Beaumont Centre Circle, off Harrodsburg Road near New Circle Road, is officially open.

It replaces the old Waller Avenue site, which has closed. Be among the first donors to make a life-saving donation in our beautiful new center. Your community's blood bank still needs you more than ever!

     Lexington , Ky. - Central Kentucky Blood Center, a 40-year institution in this half of Kentucky, has changed its name to Kentucky Blood Center and also opened its new Lexington Donor Center at 3121 Beaumont Centre Circle, off Harrodsburg Road near New Circle Road. The $7.5 million Donor Center replaces the Donor Center on Waller Ave. that has been occupied by the regional blood bank since 1979.

     “I am excited about our new name, Kentucky Blood Center , which better reflects our service area, which includes 62 counties in the eastern half of the state,” said Susan Berry-Buckley, KBC President and CEO. “I am also thrilled to present to this community a larger, modern donor center and processing lab that will serve thousands of donors and our staff for decades to come.”

      KBC's new Lexington Donor Center at Beaumont is approximately twice the size of the old facility with increased benefits for blood and platelet donors including:

      The Blood Center held a ribbon cutting ceremony March 5 at its new Beaumont Centre location.

      The Blood Center is grateful for the financial support from the region that enabled the new Beaumont Centre building to be constructed including hospitals, banks, Toyota , Lexington Medical Society, Keeneland Foundation, Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels and an appropriation from the Kentucky General Assembly, along with many other generous gifts from businesses, organizations and individuals.

      Kentucky Blood Center collected about 77,000 units of blood in the past year at donor centers in Lexington , Somerset , Pikeville and Prestonsburg and at regularly scheduled mobile blood drives in 62 counties in the eastern half of the state. It then processed that blood into components such as red cells, platelets and plasma and provided those products to 67 hospitals and clinics in the same region.

MARCH 2007

Scenes From The New Beaumont

Donor Center

Go Cats! Tom Leach, the broadcast voice of the Kentucky Wildcats,

finishes up his donation at the new center. Tom encourages UK fans who

"bleed blue" to "bleed red" for fellow Kentuckians in need of transfusions.

     

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry stopped by the new Lexington

Donor Center on the first day of operations to leave behind a pint.

 

This donor has just completed her first donation at the new Center

with a smile. Many donors have told us how pleasant the donor

areas are at the new building. Come see for yourself!

 

MARCH 5, 2007

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

529 days after groundbreaking

Susan Berry-Buckley, President and CEO of Kentucky Blood Center, references a recent article in the Lexington Herald Leader about the boom in hospital construction projects and how a new Blood Center was needed to meet the challenges of blood banking in the future.

Kentucky Blood Center President and CEO Susan Berry-Buckley and KBC Board Chairman Dr. David Stevens join a group of other officials to cut a red ribbon signaling the opening of the new Lexington Donor Center, 3121 Beaumont Centre Circle.

Officially open for business! Participants in the ribbon cutting ceremony are from left to right: George Miller, past Chairman of the Board of KBC; Dr. Mike Lalley, President-elect of the Lexington Medical Society (founding organization of the Blood Center in 1968); Gary King, who received 210 pints of blood over several months following a traumatic farm accident in 1992; Haggan Codell, 30-plus gallon blood donor and a generous financial donor; Susan Berry-Buckley, President and CEO of KBC; and Dr. David Stevens, current KBC Board Chairman.

Dr. David Stevens, Kentucky Blood Center Board Chairman, makes the first blood donation at the new Lexington Donor Center. Dr. Stevens is holding a photograph of himself giving the first pint at the old Waller Avenue Donor Center, which just closed. The date of that donation... March 5, 1979, exactly 28 years ago to the day!

MARCH 3, 2007

Waller Avenue Donor Center Closes

4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 3, 2007. Dr. Thitnart Sithisarn, a physician from

Louisville, is the last blood donor at the old Waller Ave. Donor Center.

She's holding a souvenir of her historic visit - a signed poster announcing

the Blood Center's move to the new Beaumont Centre building.

Pheresis Operator Faith Sebastian, who has spent all of her 26 1/2 years

with the Blood Center working in the Waller Ave. building, locks the front

door signaling the end of blood collection at the old Center. The new

Beaumont Centre opens Monday, March 5.

Late FEBRUARY 2007

17 months after groundbreaking

 

Vans arrive to begin moving some CKBC staff from Waller Ave.

to the new building at the Beaumont Centre, about three miles away.

Out comes some of the office furniture. The Registration area, Waiting Area, Donor Room and Refreshment Stand are all still in place as we continue

taking donors at Waller Ave. until 4 p.m. Saturday March 3.

While the move is underway, donors are still giving it their all in

the Waller Ave. Donor Room. Thank you for helping keep the

community's blood supply up during our move.You're great!

Now you can see why our new building will have elevators -

two of them, actually. One for passengers, the other for freight.

Movers arrive at the rear of the new Beaumont Centre building and

roll furniture off the truck.

Materials Assistant George Jacks checks in one of hundreds of pieces

that were trucked three miles from the old Waller Avenue facility

to the new Beaumont Centre building.

 

FEBRUARY 2007

17 months after groundbreaking

A view of the new building from across the street during a

bout of snow and frigid temperatures.

The big opening day draws closer. Staff are packing up back at

Waller Avenue in preparation for the move in late February.

Photo taken from the balcony of our next door neighbor,

Blood Horse Publications.

The front parking lot has new trees in it. There are more spaces for

donors right in front of the building than at Waller Avenue,

with plenty of extra parking in the rear.

Another view of the front parking lot.

 

JANUARY 2007

16 months after groundbreaking

The outside of our beautiful new building just before we officially

take possession. All necessary permits were approved.

The landscaping is in and taking root. Nice trees, sod and bushes.

Should be growing well by Spring.

The front door entrance for donors and other visitors.

The overhang is almost finished.

The front parking lot. There are many more spaces available for donors

and plenty of additional parking in the back.

The receptionist's desk and donor registration area

just inside the front door..

The donor waiting area and refreshment stand. Attractive, new furniture

will soon be in place. Notice the large windows letting in natural light?

The donor room. New donor beds are on the way. This area too

will be bigger and brighter and more comfortable. After all,

donors are the stars of the show!

 

DECEMBER 2006

15 months after groundbreaking

Dawn breaks outside the new Lexington Donor Center at Beaumont.

Crews are already hard at work finishing the interior work.

New counters are being installed by a crew of experts

We'll be working with bags of blood products in this area.

Installing lighting and ceiling panels.

Getting down to the nitty-gritty. Touching up the new

floor along a baseboard.

This team is putting down adhesive in preparation

for installing a new floor in the donor room.

 

SEPTEMBER 2006

12 months after groundbreaking

The front entrance to our building. The exterior is almost finished.

Here's a wider shot of the front of the new Donor center.

Some of our CKBC Lexington staff visit the site to get a

close-uplook at where they will be working.

"Envision this...." Staff gets details about the donor room where

lifesaving blood donations will begin to take place in just a few months.

The Blood Center's name will go on the stone wall out front.

 

JULY 2006

10 months after groundbreaking

Brick work is progressing nicely in this view of the front of the building.

 

The exterior of the building. The parking lot, which will be twice the

size of the old one at Waller Avenue, will be situated to the right.

 

A cool view from the second floor looking out of what will be the

windows of two offices facing Beaumont Centre Circle.

 

MAY 2006

8 months after groundbreaking

The building is really taking shape now. The insulating

outter "skin" is going up all around the walls.

 

View from a driveway that will lead to the main entrance.

One side of the building. The outter "skin" is really showing up.

See the stacks of bricks? They're going up next.

A great look from from the balcony of our new next door neighbor,

Blood Horse Publications (isn't that ironic?)

A more complete shot of our site from next door.

Rootop workers are doing prep work in advance of the

installation of the heating and air conditioning systems.

MARCH 2006

6 months after groundbreaking

The steel is going up rapidly and we can now see the size and

shape of the new Lexington Donor Center. We expect to open

for business in about a year. Can you envision it full of donors?

 

 

Another view of the rear corner of the building.

Beaumont Centre Circle is in the upper left of the photo.

 

Ground level close-up shot of the steel work.

A look back toward our much bigger parking lot.

What a relief to donors and staff!  

 

A view of the parking lot and islands from the balcony next door.

New Circle Road is beyond the trees to the upper right.

 

JANUARY 2006

4 months after groundbreaking

The first walls of the building are rising. That's a good sign!

Steel will be delivered soon and beams will climb into the sky.

Great progress so far!

 

The foundation is being prepared for the new 40,000+ square foot

building. A huge pile of dirt from the basement excavation sits nearby.

That's Kroger off in the distance.

 

A view from the back parking lot toward the building site. 

Beaumont Centre Circle is in the background.

 The rooftop belongs to our new across-the-street neighbor, Shelter Insurance. 

 

Another wall is going up. This one on the front of the building.

 

One of the first things to be completed was the back parking lot.

New Circle Road is just beyond the trees and bushes.

 

NOVEMBER 2005

2 months after groundbreaking

A large hole has been dug toward the middle and front of our property

at Beaumont. This is where our new building will sit.

A large parking lot will be built behind the structure. 

A closer look at the location for the new building. A support has already

been poured on one side, the first solid piece of the building to appear.

 

Looking toward what will be the back parking lot.

 

A crew is building islands in the parking lot.

 

Construction parts and equipment fill this area.

Can you picture a new building sitting here some day?

 

OCTOBER 2005

1 month after groundbreaking

Not much happening yet at 3121 Beaumont Centre Circle. A construction fence

is up and grading work is going on to level an incline on the property.

That's the Blood Horse Publications building next door.

This view looks toward what will be the front of our building.

A view from the side of the property toward Monarch St., which runs alongside

the building. Employees will eventually enter the back parking lot from Monarch.

 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2005

Groundbreaking Ceremony

at the Beaumont Centre

Invitations to the groundbreaking ceremony appeared on real

blood bags that were sent to hundreds of guests.

Shovels and hard hats await the groundbreaking

ceremony at the Beaumont Centre site.

Central Kentucky Blood Center President and CEO Susan Berry-Buckley

tells the crowd how thrilled she is to be on the spot where in 18 months

a new Lexington Donor Center and Processing Lab will stand.

Mr. Ted Bassett, Chairman, CKBC Champions Committee, tells the audience

that blood is like the air we breathe. We take it for granted but need it to live.

Students from Rosa Parks Elementary, wearing CKBC patriotic blood donor

T-shirts, perform "God Bless America." The school is just down the street

from the new building site.

Students from SCAPA Bluegrass perform "Rappin' For Blood."

The shovels are poised for the big moment.

Ready? 1... 2... 3!

"Let the bulldozers begin!" CKBC President and CEO Susan Berry-Buckley and

husband Buck (right) celebrate with long-time CKBC Board member Mike Molloy.

 

MARCH 2005

Groundbreaking 6 Months Away

A lonely sign announcing "Future Home of Central Kentucky Blood Center"

sits in a field at the Beaumont Centre.