Sunday, December 22, 2024
12/22/2024
• Mailing Address: 2401 Congress St, Portland, ME 04102 • Project Site Address: 524 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101 • Project Contact: Karen Fabis, Regional Chief Operating Officer, Northern New England • Phone: 603-969-4333 • Email: Karen.Fabis@redcross.org Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. Blood and blood products serve as a critical, irreplaceable component of our nation’s healthcare infrastructure. Trusted hospitals, treatment centers, and patients alike depend upon the American Red Cross to ensure that a safe and reliable blood supply is available, whenever needed. In Maine, the Red Cross collects approximately 73,000 units of life-saving blood and blood products annually and supplies 22 hospitals statewide. The American Red Cross respectfully requests $871,000 from the Health Resources and Services Administration for the modernization of its biomedical facility in Portland, ME. This facility serves as a vital hub for its statewide blood collections program, housing a fixed blood donation center, a mobile staging area to support community-based blood drives throughout the state, training rooms, administrative offices, and parking for 17 specialized fleet vehicles. Originally built in 1900 and occupied by the Red Cross since 1981, the site has yet to undergo a large-scale renovation in its 40 years of operation and is in need of critical repairs and upgrades. Federal funds, if awarded, would offset $871,000 of a larger modernization project for facilities and equipment at 524 Forest Ave, with total costs currently estimated at approximately $3.8 million. The coronavirus pandemic underscored the need to invest in resilient, effective systems capable of meeting the health needs of all citizens, especially through moments of crisis. In 2020, the national blood supply experienced unprecedented fluctuations: mass cancellation of blood drives as schools and businesses closed their doors, a surge in collections when new communit y-based drive locations were identified and the public was called upon to give, a new demand for plasma containing coronavirus antibodies in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, and in early 2022, the first nationally declared “blood crisis” as multiple factors reduced the blood supply in some areas to less than a day’s worth of available units. Modernization of the Portland biomedical facility, planned to begin in July 2022, will include design modifications to improve the efficiency of operations (e.g. dedicated entrances for key functions, a loading dock for mobile staging), replacement of critical equipment (e.g. a back-up electrical generator), and necessary repairs and upgrades throughout (e.g. parking lot repaving). As the nation’s oldest humanitarian aid organization responsible for providing over 40% of the U.S. blood supply, the Red Cross has the experience and expertise to meet the demand for blood products. In addition to providing life-saving blood benefitting individual Americans every day – including cancer patients, accident victims, surgical patients, and people living with sickle cell disease – the Red Cross supports positive health outcome on a national scale: as a leader in blood safety testing, partner in public health research, and manager of the American Rare Blood Donor Program. Investments in critical repairs and upgrades at the Portland biomedical facility will sustain blood collection efforts in the state of Maine and help safeguard an essential, irreplaceable component of our national health system: a safe, reliable blood supply.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).