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Puget Sound Blood Center has served as a vital link in our community’s healthcare network since its establishment in 1944. Every day, we provide 900 units of blood to seventy hospitals and medical centers throughout Western Washington. Today, the Blood Center is one of the most respected blood centers in the world and has expanded the mission to include services in patient care, tissue banking, and high-quality medical research.
Recently we have taken the lead in the fight against blood clotting by establishing a thrombosis research center. Thrombosis is a medical problem of staggering magnitude for which no center of research exists on the entire West Coast. At the thrombosis center our researchers will strive to improve patient outcomes by unraveling the mysteries of blood clotting, gaining a better understanding of heart disease and stroke, and enhancing thrombosis prevention and treatment. Our long term goal is to find a cure for thrombosis.
Thrombosis, which you may know as simple blood clotting, is the leading cause of heart attack and stroke. Each year it kills 65 million people worldwide. Each one of us has a family member or friend who has died from a stroke or heart attack.
Thrombosis has been the leading cause of death in the United States every year since 1900 with the exception of 1918, the year of the great flu epidemic. Thrombotic diseases include clots that affect the heart and cause heart attacks, clots that affect the brain and cause strokes, and clots in the deep veins of the legs that cause pulmonary embolisms. In addition to these well-known diseases, thrombosis complicates many other diseases including cancer, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus.
Though the foundation of the thrombosis center is in place, there is more work ahead. Research at Puget Sound Blood Center can only be accomplished with collaboration among researchers and with community support from companies like yours. There are many worthy causes to support. But what could be more important than life itself? We cannot afford to sit by and let this disease destroy families any longer. You can help open the door to new discoveries that will save lives around the world.
Puget Sound Blood Center is Your community blood center.
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