Our history

The History of the Northern California Community Blood Bank

Celebrating 75 Years in 2026

75 Years of Neighbors Helping Neighbors

What began as a local response to a serious problem in obtaining blood for patients has grown into an independent, community-based nonprofit serving Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

In 2026, the Northern California Community Blood Bank is proudly celebrating its 75th year as part of the health-care infrastructure of California’s North Coast. It was formally incorporated in 1951, but its origins reach back to the difficult circumstances surrounding blood transfusion in Humboldt County in the years immediately before its founding.

Today, blood can be collected, tested, processed and stored before a patient needs it. In the period leading up to the Blood Bank’s creation, the situation was very different.

Around 1950

Before the Blood Bank

Obtaining blood for a patient in Humboldt or Del Norte County could be a complicated and time-consuming process. When blood was needed, donors with an appropriate blood group and type had to be located. Their blood then had to be cross-matched with the patient’s blood.

Because there was no effective local system for storing unused blood, donors could be asked to remain near a telephone while surgery was underway so they could be called if their blood was needed. Local physicians themselves took turns drawing donor blood.

The arrangement was cumbersome and made it difficult to maintain a dependable supply for surgeries and other medical needs. Local physicians recognized that the region needed a better system.

Another account preserved by Eureka Elks Lodge #652 traces the effort to 1949. According to the Lodge’s history, Exalted Ruler Carl Hansen heard local doctors discussing problems with blood being transported to Eureka from Santa Rosa by Greyhound bus. Hansen responded by organizing a telephone network of Elks members who could be called to hospitals to donate fresh blood when it was urgently needed.

It was an ingenious community response, but it was not a long-term solution.

An early community recognition presentation connected with the Blood Bank — Civic organizations and local residents helped turn an urgent community response into a permanent institution.

1951

A Community Decides to Build Its Own Blood Bank

Local physicians began working toward the creation of a permanent community blood bank. Historical records identify physicians Shiras Jarvis, M.D., Phillip Dohn, M.D., Stanwood Schmidt, M.D., and George Watson, M.D. among those involved in the effort. They approached the Eureka Elks Lodge for assistance.

Under Carl Hansen’s leadership, the Elks raised money to establish what was originally known as the Humboldt Del Norte Blood Bank. The Northern California Community Blood Bank was formally incorporated in 1951.

The significance of that development is difficult to overstate. Instead of depending solely on locating an individual donor at the moment a patient needed blood, the community was establishing an organization dedicated to maintaining a reliable local blood supply.

It was a locally created solution to a distinctly local problem.

The First Blood Bank

The original Blood Bank operated in the Lloyd Building on Fifth Street in Eureka. In the beginning, physicians continued taking turns drawing blood. As the organization developed, permanent staff members were hired. Minutes from early board meetings identify Aubrey White as the first “Head Technician” and first paid employee.

The scale was small compared with today. Historical accounts say only a couple hundred units were collected during the first year; a more detailed account published during the 75th-anniversary period reports that 367 pints were received during the first three months of operation.

Carl Hansen and the Eureka Elks presented $1,500 raised through the auction of a donated automobile, and the Blood Bank obtained a one-dollar lease in the Eagles Building, identified as the present-day Lloyd Building.

From the beginning, the Blood Bank depended not only on physicians and medical professionals, but also on civic organizations, volunteers, donors and local residents. That community involvement would become a defining characteristic of the organization.

Two men standing with an early Northern California Community Blood Bank sign at 2524 Harrison Avenue — An early sign at the Harrison Avenue home of the Northern California Community Blood Bank.

Historic one-gallon blood donor club certificate — Recognition has long honored the dedication of repeat donors. Today’s program continues with gifts at major donation milestones.

A permanent local institution

Growing With the North Coast

As Humboldt and Del Norte counties grew and medical care became more sophisticated, the need for a reliable local blood supply grew with them. The Blood Bank eventually outgrew its original quarters.

According to the historical record, the Blood Bank traded a parcel it owned on Second Street for property on Harrison Avenue. A dedicated blood bank facility was constructed there and served as the organization’s home for approximately 35 years.

The organization that had begun with physicians drawing blood themselves was developing the infrastructure necessary to collect, process and distribute blood on a much larger scale. As hospitals and physicians performed more procedures locally rather than sending patients out of the area, a dependable blood supply became increasingly important.

1978

Taking Blood Donation Into the Community

One of the most important developments in the Blood Bank’s history was the expansion of mobile blood collection. The historical timeline identifies 1978 as the year the first Bloodmobile was launched across Humboldt County.

Instead of requiring every donor to travel to the Blood Bank, blood drives could be brought into communities throughout the region. Businesses, schools, organizations and community groups could host drives, making donation more accessible across Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

By 2008, more than 16,000 units were collected during the year. Approximately one-third was collected at the Harrison Avenue facility, while roughly two-thirds came through Bloodmobile operations throughout the two counties.

See the Bloodmobile schedule Host a blood drive

An early Bloodmobile decorated with red balloons and surrounded by staff — An early Bloodmobile decorated for a community celebration.

Northern California Community Blood Bank parade float celebrating 40 years and more than 133,000 donations — 199140 years
In 1991, a community parade float celebrated the Northern California Community Blood Bank’s 40th anniversary and more than 133,000 blood donations since 1951—a vivid record of neighbors showing up for one another.

1994

A New Facility for a Growing Organization

By the early 1990s, the Blood Bank once again needed additional space and capabilities. The present facility at 2524 Harrison Avenue in Eureka was constructed in 1994.

The expanded facility provided room for the equipment and laboratory operations required by a modern blood center and allowed collection, testing, processing, storage and distribution functions to be brought together. The building remains the Blood Bank’s headquarters and donor center today.

People power the mission

The People Behind the Blood Bank

Although technology has transformed blood banking since 1951, the organization has always depended on people.

A newspaper article published around the 50th anniversary described an organization that by then employed more than 60 people across nursing, donor care, recruitment, laboratory science, quality assurance, administration, shipping and receiving, distribution, human resources, accounting and information technology.

The article also explained an important part of the nonprofit model: patients are not charged for donated blood itself. Operating a blood center involves the costs of collecting, testing, processing, storing and distributing blood, together with the equipment, facilities, transportation and staffing that make that work possible.

The Northern California Community Blood Bank remains an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization today. Meet the people continuing that work in our staff stories, or learn about the leadership and Board of Directors.

Two people wearing a historic red blood-drop mascot costume at a community event — Community education and outreach have taken many memorable forms over the decades.

The modern Northern California Community Blood Bank Bloodmobile parked among the redwoods — Today’s Bloodmobile continues a mobile collection tradition that began in 1978.

Then and now

Safety and the Evolution of Blood Banking

Modern blood banking involves far more than collecting blood. Blood products must be collected under controlled conditions, tested, processed, stored and distributed according to extensive safety requirements.

Current licenses and accreditations include oversight or accreditation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, AABB, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the State of California. These documents are available on the licenses and accreditations section of the About page.

The contrast with the Blood Bank’s beginnings is remarkable. Before its creation, the challenge was simply finding compatible donors quickly enough to help a patient undergoing surgery. Today, a professional laboratory operation, donor center and mobile collection system help ensure blood is available before an emergency occurs.

2001 · 2020 · 2026

Fifty Years — and Then Seventy-Five

In 2001, the Northern California Community Blood Bank celebrated its 50th anniversary. What began as a small operation organized by physicians and community members had become an organization employing dozens of people and serving hospitals throughout the region.

Another major test came in 2020, when the Blood Bank continued working to maintain the region’s blood supply during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2026, the Northern California Community Blood Bank marks 75 years since its incorporation in 1951. Read more about the people and work behind this milestone in our 75th-anniversary feature.

The mission continues

A Blood Bank Built by Its Community

The technology, buildings, staff and methods have changed dramatically since the early 1950s, but the fundamental reason for the Blood Bank’s existence has remained remarkably consistent: it exists to make blood available when patients need it.

Today, the Northern California Community Blood Bank is an independent, community-based nonprofit serving the North Coast and prioritizing local patients in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. Approximately 60 to 70 local donors are needed each day to maintain the community blood supply.

Its history includes physicians who recognized the existing system was inadequate; Carl Hansen and the Eureka Elks Lodge members who helped organize donors and raise money; early employees who transformed a volunteer effort into a functioning medical organization; hundreds of Board members; and generations of nurses, laboratory professionals, donor care specialists, recruiters, drivers, administrative employees and volunteers.

Above all, it includes the donors. From a few hundred units collected in the earliest days to thousands of donations each year, the Blood Bank has always depended upon people voluntarily giving blood for patients they may never meet.

Local people giving blood so that other local people can receive it when they need it.

That is the history of the Northern California Community Blood Bank—a community building and sustaining its own blood supply, one donor at a time.