Officials with Shepeard Community Blood Center hope to have the technology early next year to do all necessary testing on donated blood at their Wrightsboro Road location.
About a month ago, the blood center took the first step when it began performing nucleic acid testing with a process that checks for hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV and West Nile virus.
Tests had been handled by a lab in Tennessee.
"We are very excited about bringing this technology on site," said Kevin Belanger, the CEO of Shepeard Community Blood Center. "It's the first step to become self sufficient while providing job opportunities and staying up with technology."
The next step will be to start conducting enzyme immunoassay testing on site, Mr. Belanger said.
He said he hopes that will happen by the end of March.
For local hospitals, that will mean donated blood they receive will have an extra day of shelf life, he said.
During Tuesday's ceremony, the center also announced it had donated its retired bloodmobile to the Medical Equipment Transport Service, operated by the Rotary District 6920, which includes the Augusta area.
The vehicle in turn was donated to David Puckett, the president and founder of Savannah-based PIPO Missions, Inc., a non-profit that provides prosthetic limbs and braces to handicapped and indigent individuals in southeastern Mexico.
Shepeard also unveiled a new bloodmobile, named the Blood Vessel.
Reach Nikasha Dicks at (706) 823-3336 or nikasha.dicks@augustachronicle.com.
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