MILESTONES

1966 -	On September 12, the Blood Bank is founded as the Blood Bank of Berks County through cooperative efforts of the Berks County Medical Society and the Reading Host Lions Club; offices are established in downtown Reading (PA), with donors donating at one of the three local hospitals (Reading Hospital & Medical Center, Community General Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center). The Blood Bank's name is later changed to Keystone Community Blood Bank.
1971 -	The dedication ceremony for the new Samuel W. Miller Memorial Blood Center takes place on September 9th and the first unit of blood is collected the following day. The first hospitals to participate were St. Luke’s Hospital and Muhlenberg Hospital Center followed by Easton Hospital a month later. Before the year’s end, the Center was supplying blood and blood products to Allentown Hospital, Allentown Osteopathic Medical Center, and Sacred Heart Hospital.
1974 -	Lehigh Valley Hospital becomes the seventh participating hospital.
1977 -	An accredited reference laboratory where difficult transfusion problems and identification of rare donor units are resolved was established. A rare donor is created and is made accessible to blood centers across the country.
1978 -	Quakertown Community Hospital becomes the eighth hospital served by MMBC.
1979 -	A frozen red cell program which allows the storage of rare blood units is developed by MMBC. Keystone Community Blood Bank begins to develop plans for mobile blood collection services.
1981 -	The first KCBB field hospital blood mobile is held in January, with collected blood tested and prepared for transfusion at local hospitals.
1982 -	A new blood bag preservative is introduced extending the shelf life of blood from 21 to 35 days.
1985 -	Donor screening for HIV antibody is initiated initiated at MMBC. A self-contained bloodmobile is purchased by KCBB to collect blood at sites that are not able to host on-site blood drives due to space limitations or number of donors, and administrative offices are moved to a location in Bern Township.
1987 -	The first branch location, 1251 S. Cedar Crest Boulevard in Allentown, is opened on January 12th. Slate Belt Medical Center in Bangor becomes the first satellite location for the Blood Center. The Board of Directors of Keystone Community Blood Bank approves Reading Hospital & Medical Center as the component center for all KCBB-collected blood.
1988 -	A new blood bag preservative allows blood to be stored up to 42 days. A decision is made to build a new facility and a 1.2 million dollar capital campaign is launched in August. On November 29, a ground- breaking ceremony is held at the site of the new MMBC in Lehigh Valley Corporate Center.
1990 -	A new 29,000 square foot Miller Memorial Blood Center opens at the Valley Center Parkway, Bethlehem. MMBC begins an apheresis(platelet) program on September 25th.
1993 -	A self-contained bloodmobile coach is purchased by MMBC to collect blood at sites unable to host on- site bloodmobiles because of space limitations or number of donors. MMBC is licensed for blood collection in the state of New Jersey. Hackettstown Community Hospital becomes the ninth hospital to affiliate with MMBC and the first hospital in New Jersey. Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg, New Jersey becomes the tenth hospital to join MMBC.
1995 -	Therapeutic phlebotomy, the removal of specific volumes of blood to combat the symptoms of disease such as polycythemia vera, is now performed at Miller . Newton Memorial Hospital, Newton, New Jersey, becomes the eleventh hospital to join MMBC's program.
1997 -	Miller Memorial Blood Center implements a sophisticated data management system. The new system, approved by the FDA, integrates donor product and distribution information for quality, safety and process control for both donors and blood products. On October 1st, Pottstown Memorial Medical Center joins MMBC's blood service program.
1998 -	On October 6, an affiliation is announced between Miller Memorial Blood Center, Keystone Community Blood Bank, and Central Pennsylvania Blood Center of Hummelstown, PA. MMBC launches a website, located at www.mmbc.org/blood. KCBB's donor center is moved to the Community Campus of St. Joseph Medical Center.
1999 -	MMBC begins nucleic acid (NAT) testing of blood products, and is licensed for donor retested plasma. Palmerton Hospital joins Miller's blood service program.
2000 -	Miller is awarded a contract with a national wound care center for testing of their blood samples. MMBC is licensed to collect leukoreduced pheresis platelets at the main facility and Cedar Crest satellite.the KCBB Board of Directors and the membership at large vote to approve a merger between MMBC and KCBB. The Board also approves creation of a donor center at the Bern Township office location.
2001 -	Miller Memorial Blood Center becomes the fourth not-for-profit community blood organization in the United States to achieve the ISO9002 quality certification. Keystone Community Blood Bank (Reading, PA) merges into Miller Memorial Blood Center operations. KCBB's newly constructed Mark S. Reed Donor Center is dedicated in January; whole blood donations are immediately collected, and an apheresis (platelet) program becomes operational in February.
2002 -	A second self-contained bloodmobile coach is purchased by MMBC to meet increased demand for blood products and services in our region. Keystone Community Blood Bank establishes a web presence on the Blood Center's site, located at www.hcsc.org/blood. In July, Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, Lehighton, PA, joins MMBC's blood service program.
2003 -	On June 17, simultaneous press conferences are held in Bethlehem and Reading to announce the newly-merged name of Miller-Keystone Blood Center, and to unveil a new, unified logo for the organization. On July 1, St. Luke's Miners Memorial Hospital (Coaldale, PA) joins the blood services program. Major construction activity takes place at the Bethlehem headquarters, including the establishment of a Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) laboratory and the re-location and expansion of the collections area.
2004 -	MKBC announces establishment of a new Donor Testing Services division, which will allow Miller-Keystone to test blood donor samples for both our region and other blood centers nationwide. A new self-contained bloodmobile coach and mini-bloodmobile coach are added to the Blood Center's fleet of blood collection vehicles. The Allentown donor center moves into a larger space at 1255 S. Cedar Crest Boulevard in April, and in August, a new donor center is opened at 2925 William Penn Highway in Easton. Effective Nov. 1, 2004, Miller-Keystone becomes the exclusive blood provider to the Greater Hazleton Health Alliance (Hazleton, PA). To provide donors in this region with more convenient opportunities to donate, a new fixed site donor center opens at The Beltway Commons, 132 Airport Road, Hazleton, in October.
2005 -	A second mini-bloodmobile is added to the Blood Center's fleet of blood collection vehicles.
2006 -	In July, a new Blue Bird Forward Control Bloodmobile is added to the Blood Center's fleet of blood collection vehicles.