Rock River Valley Blood Center

We had a great time this week at the RPS 205 Academy Expo! Freshmen students had the opportunity to tour our purple donation bus and speak with staff about blood donation and career opportunities.

Congratulations on your promotion Maggie Anderson! We are so proud of you and look forward to your continued growth and success. Thank you for all the amazing things you do to positively represent the blood center and support our mission to help save patient lives. Stay amazing!

We're #hiring a new Administrative Assistant in Rockford, Illinois. Apply today or share this post with your network.

We had a wonderful morning, unveiling our new bloodmobile to some of the wonderful people who donated. Huge thanks to OSF St. Anthony’s Medical Center, Mercyhealth Wisconsin and Illinois, and UW Health SwedishAmerican for their generous contributions. We also want to thank the City of Loves Park for their continued support of Rock River Valley Blood Center as well. Special thanks to Mayor Greg Jury, Julia Zimmerman, Dr. John Dorsey and Sue Fischer for saying a few words on behalf of their wonderful organizations. Also, a huge thanks to Blood Assurance, JB Gaskins and Liz Culler for building this beautiful bus for us. We can't wait to bring it to our local communities so people can donate blood.

Congratulations to our employee, Lisa M., Purchasing, Equipment, and Inventory Specialist, on earning her ASCM Procurement Certification! Lisa excelled in her studies and passed the exam with a 96%—truly impressive work! Earners of this certification have demonstrated their expertise in critical competencies within supply chain procurement, including sourcing strategies, supplier relationship management, contract management, sustainability, and evaluation metrics. Lisa’s dedication to this program has further developed her skillset and understanding of the key tasks required to contribute to the procurement function within our organization. Lisa, we are incredibly proud of you and look forward to your continued contributions, success, and accomplishments. Stay amazing!

We had a wonderful visit with OSF Saint Anthony Hospital today. Thank you Amy Marchetti and Chuck Brackett for your time today. We were so excited to see our banner encouraging blood donations in the lobby! Huge thanks to our partner hospitals OSF HealthCare, Mercyhealth Wisconsin and Illinois and UW Health SwedishAmerican for displaying our co-branded banners throughout your facilities encouraging blood donations. We appreciate your support!

Congratulations to our very own Steffanie Schuld, HR Manager, for graduating from the Leadership Rockford program. Leadership Rockford is an 8-month program facilitated by the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce, designed to provide a holistic, in-depth understanding of the Rockford community, including its history, opportunities, and successes. The program's mission is to build leadership skills and enhance awareness of business, government, and civic issues through interaction and direct involvement with business and community leaders. Steffanie, thank you for giving us your best each and every day and for being an exemplary employee and leader. We are so proud of you and look forward to your continued success!

We are delighted to share that our esteemed CEO and community leader, Lisa Entrikin, is featured in the latest "White Coats" edition by AABB News. The Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies is an organization whose professional membership spans transfusion medicine and biotherapies across more than 80 countries. The Association is dedicated to advancing the field through the provision of standards, accreditation, and educational programs, all aimed at optimizing patient and donor care and safety. Lisa's article provides valuable insights into donor recruitment, attracting younger donors, and enhancing retention through a positive donation experience. Take a look!

Awesome time and experience!! This past week I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the 2023 SHRM volunteer leader business meeting #VLBM with over 1000 of my fellow HR colleagues. These impressive leaders represent our profession on a national, state, regional and local level. Not only did this awesome event better equip me as I head into my new role as the 2024 chapter president for Rockford Area SHRM; it most importantly provided me the opportunity to build relationships, make new connections, share best practices and surround myself with the “best of the best” in our profession. I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to learn from such talented individuals. One of the best highlights - Spending time on an impromptu monument mall adventure with newly found HR connections. It began to slightly rain as the evening progressed which turned out to be a benefit. It slowed down the crowds and gave us more time to be present and fully take it all in. A special shout out to Christine Johnson Katie Dykstra MSHRM, CPC, CDE® Angelica (Angie) Herrera Jeff Williamson Rebecca Koetters Jacki Thrasher, SHRM-SCP, PHR Jasmine Bell, SHRM-CP for making things fun and your kind, thoughtful dialogue. Thank you to SHRM for providing substantive events to help our profession learn, grow and drive change. Thank you to Rockford Area SHRM and our volunteer board members Jeanine Fadness, SHRM-CP Jessica Schrader Zach Rice Lauren Stoklosa, SHRM-CP Carrie A. Young Cheryl Tunison SPHR, SHRM-SCP Rachel Sprayberry Amber Lawrence Scott Erickson, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Lauren Henderson, SHRM-CP for your amazing leadership and volunteer work and my awesome employer Rock River Valley Blood Center Lisa Entrikin for your encouragement and support! #shrmvlbm #loveyourwork #drivechange #buildingconnections #volunteerleadership