WELCOME TO THE HAABB!
The Heart of America Association of Blood Banks is a nonprofit, professional organization dedicated to improving Transfusion Medicine by fostering the exchange of information and bringing education opportunities to blood bank and transfusion medicine professionals.  The HAABB hosts two annual meetings for the Kansas City & St Louis areas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPRING MEETING DATES ANNOUNCED!  

 

APRIL 24th and 25th, 2012 at Harrah's Hotel in North Kansas City, Missouri

 UPDATED SPRING MEETING INFO!

Students!

Apply now for our Annual MT or MLT Student Scholarship

 

Beginning in 2011, the HAABB started awarding a matching $500 scholarship to the school of the winning student to be used for educational purposes.  Click on the Student Scholarship tab (above) for more information.

 

 

 

President's Message

 

Thank you for visiting the Heart of America Association of Blood Banks (HAABB) website. Hopefully the enhancements that have been made recently will allow you to easily navigate the site and that the information you find here will be helpful to you. More changes will be coming!

 

You’ve probably heard the proverb "change is the only constant" and this seems to be true in all aspects of our lives. Whether on a personal or professional level, we encounter change on a daily basis. In the field of blood banking, technological changes have brought us from routinely shaking test tubes to other methods such as solid phase, gel agglutination and now to testing at the molecular level. HAABB is committed to staying progressive and providing up to date educational opportunities for its members, so other changes have been made in addition to the new website.

 

At our 2011 Spring Meeting in Kansas City, attendees were given a flash drive containing all presentations to facilitate sharing of information with their coworkers. This also allowed us to save paper as an earth friendly "green" initiative. In the future, we plan to post all presentations on the website so attendees can download them as needed.

 

Another change we implemented was an additional $500 awarded to the student scholarship winner’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program. Our hope is that these funds will enable more learning opportunities and interest in the field of transfusion medicine. Be sure to check out the ScholarshipTab to read the wonderful papers submitted by CLS students.

 

It is an honor to serve as president of the HAABB and to have the opportunity to work with such a dedicated group of individuals who serve on the board. Please feel free to contact me or any of the board members with your comments, ideas, or wishes for other changes you would like to see or even changes you don’t want to see. Check back often to see what new things we have to offer and for updates on the up coming 2011 Fall and 2012 Spring meetings.


As Robert C. Gallagher once said "change is inevitable—except from a vending machine".

 

Faith Nilhas MLS(ASCP)cm

Blood Bank Supervisor

Lawrence Memorial Hospital

Lawrence, Kansas

 

                                                    HAABB President 2011-2012 



 
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HAABB is a volunteer organization that provides educational opportunities for medical laboratory professionals with an emphasis on transfusion medicine.

Current Officers 2011 - 2012:

 

President                    Faith Nilhas, MT(ASCP), Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Lawrence, KS

Vice-President          Mary Signaigo, MT(ASCP), St John's Mercy Medical Center, St Louis, MO

Secretary                    Michelle Burgin, MT(ASCP)SBB, Bothwell Regional Health Center, Sedalia, MO

Treasurer                    Patsy Gomez, MT HT(ASCP), St Francis Health Center, Topeka, KS

President Elect           Deanne Stephens, MT(ASCP)SBB, University of KS Medical Center, Kansas City, KS  

Past President           Elizabeth Jones, MT(ASCP)BB; St Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, MO