Laboratory Advancements Begin This Summer

Bonfils Blood Center has developed a $6 million capital improvement project that will result in a re-design and 10,000 square foot expansion of the blood center’s manufacturing, distribution, transfusion service and donor testing laboratories and facilities improvements at our Denver headquarters.

Since its relocation to the Lowry campus in 1995, Bonfils Blood Center laboratory operations have met the production needs for up to 200,000 blood units annually within the existing space. This has enabled Bonfils to meet the Colorado healthcare needs while improving our quality standards and FDA compliance over the past 13 years.

During the 2007 strategic planning process, Bonfils Blood Center’s senior management team identified an opportunity to reengineer our laboratory processes using a demonstrated best practices model benchmarking against industry standards and internal measures. The overall goal is to streamline processes while maintaining the purity and potency of our products. This is done through a strategy that focuses on improving work flow to achieve the most efficient process cycle time, incorporating flexibility and identifying key opportunities to minimize waste while maintaining FDA compliance and an eye on long-term adoption of international standards such as European Union (EU) Compliance and Australian (OZ) standards.

Improvements to Bonfils’ laboratories include installing flexible and scalable work stations which adapt not only to the function being performed but to the employee performing the task. The addition of automated equipment to weigh, express and seal blood products will replace the current manual process and allow for additional traceability of the manufacturing process. Significant changes to our product storage systems will also be made by adding upright, reach-in, modular blood and plasma storage units. These new refridgerator units will replace the current walk-in coolers and freezers thereby improving work-life quality for employees.

As a nonprofit organization, Bonfils strives to effectively use both our internal and financial resources. Not only did Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper declare Feb. 27, 2008 Bonfils Blood Center Day in celebration of our 65^th anniversary and does the city and county of Denver host blood drives with Bonfils, but earlier this month, again recognized the importance of our partnership and the critical nature of our work within the Colorado healthcare system. City and county officials approved the private activity bond placement presented by the blood center to act as the conduit between Bonfils and Key Government Finance which allows us to make our laboratory advancements at a tax exempt interest rate to continue to better serve our community, our healthcare partners and patients in need.

Bonfils selected H+L Architecture Firm and Adolfson & Peterson Construction (A&P) as the general contractor for the blood production laboratory remodel. A&P, based out of Aurora, has experience working on relevant projects with hospital and healthcare facilities throughout Colorado most notably with Kaiser Permanente’s medical offices and laboratories.

The Bonfils renovation team has worked closely with the architects and contractors to develop a three-phased plan to ensure minimal disruption of work processes and customer service during the project. The construction phase of the remodeling project is expected to begin in August 2008 and is estimated to take approximately 18 months.

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