HealthMarkets Helps Carter BloodCare

HealthMarkets believes strongly in giving back to the community and in engaging its workforce in community service efforts whenever possible. Carter BloodCare and HealthMarkets have worked together to provide blood donations to the DFW community since 1991. HealthMarkets holds quarterly employee blood drives at its corporate facility in North Richland Hills, TX.

Since beginning this program, 1,223 HealthMarkets employees have donated 3140 units of blood, which has helped to save thousands of lives. Whether used to replace red cells lost during an accident or surgery, to supply plasma for burn victims or platelets for cancer patients, HealthMarkets employee donations have made a positive impact in the community.

Carter BloodCare is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that operates in 56 North, Central and East Texas counties and is the primary provider of blood components and transfusion services for more than 200 Texas health care facilities. These facilities include the region’s children’s hospitals, central trauma centers, major cancer centers, and transplant centers.

To meet the needs of local patients, Carter BloodCare must register about 1,100 blood donors each day at its network of 26 Donor Centers and 25-30 daily blood drives in the community. Last year, Carter BloodCare provided over 300,000 blood components for area patients. Physicians order lifesaving blood for more than 600 patients each day within Carter BloodCare’s service area, and most patients receive more than one transfusion.

The facility is equipped to store, process, and test all blood components locally before distribution. The testing laboratory, operated by Blood Systems Laboratories, is one of the most advanced in the nation. Carter BloodCare is accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks, licensed by the Food and Drug Administration and affiliated with America’s Blood Centers.