South Texas Blood & Tissue Center
Announces New Donor Pavilion

SAN ANTONIO (May 25, 2007) — The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) held a red-carpet groundbreaking ceremony this morning for its new Donor Pavilion located on the grounds of existing STBTC headquarters. The Donor Pavilion will be the new on-site area for community blood collections and donations. The pavilion, which is scheduled to be completed in June 2008, will also house the donor services and donor recruitment departments in the new 45,900 sq. ft. facility. This new annex will bring the total square footage of STBTC to 171,000 sq. ft.

Judge Nelson Wolff, Mayor pro-tem Delicia Herrera, Bexar County Medical Society officials and community leaders were present this morning to help celebrate this special occasion and mark the continued growth of STBTC over the past 30 years.

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center first opened its doors as a not-for-profit community blood bank under the name ‘South Texas Regional Blood Bank’ in January, 1974. In August of 1976, the blood bank increased its service area to 27 South Texas counties. After several moves over the years to accommodate growth and due to expansion of services to include tissue banking, the organization changed its name to the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center in September 1994.

“We’re very excited about the amount of growth we continue to experience year after year. It’s truly remarkable that so many of our donors are saving lives and having such an important impact on our community and our state as a whole, and we celebrate them today with this ceremony,” said Dr. Norman D. Kalmin, president/CEO and medical director of the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center.

Today, the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center serves over 100 hospitals and clinics in 43 South Texas counties. In addition to recruiting, collecting, processing, testing and distributing blood components, STBTC operates a certified tissue bank, houses the Texas Cord Blood Bank and also serves as a National Marrow Donor Program registration site.

STBTC’s donors and recipients are the main reason for this incredible growth and were celebrated with a red carpet ceremony and Wall of Fame art creation which will be placed in the new pavilion to represent those who have given so much. Donors and recipients who chose to champion the cause of donating are known as STBTC’s Lifelinks. Donor Gerald Perkins and recipient Arden Cantwell were both present along with other Lifelinks to help turn the shovels and make the Wall of Fame creation at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Seventy-five year old Gerald Perkins is known as San Antonio’s most generous blood donor, having given more than 52 gallons of whole blood and platelets since the center opened. Perkins gave his first pint of blood in 1971 and says it makes him feel good just knowing that he’s helping someone survive or have a better life.

Lifelink recipient Arden Cantwell is just one of those survivors. Having been diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Lukemia in 2006 at the tender age of 3, Arden would not be alive today without the generous blood donations of people like Gerald. Arden is currently undergoing treatment and will be for the next two years. She receives an average of two units of blood per month and is one of many children at STBTC who depend on donations to survive different cancers and their treatments.