ImpactLife 50th Anniversary - a message from Mike Parejko

Published by Mike Parejko on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 in Blog

Mike Parejko, President and CEO of ImpactLife, delivered the following remarks at the celebration of the blood center's 50th Anniversary on November 19, 2024.

As we gather here today, I would like to thank you for participating in this momentous event! We're here to celebrate ImpactLife and 50 years of fulfilling our mission to save lives by providing blood products and services to communities in need. Thank you for joining us!

ImpactLife is a nonprofit provider of blood components to hospitals and emergency medical service providers in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, and to resource sharing partners across the country. We have 800 dedicated employees working in our four-state region who are focused on providing a safe and reliable blood supply for the hospitals and patients we have the privilege to serve.

We serve as the vital link between the generous, volunteer donors who provide blood donations and the health care professionals who deliver blood transfusions to patients in need.

It is truly my honor to stand here today on the shoulders of giants who came before us. But for those who came before us with a grand vision we would not be here. Let's pause and remember those who set the foundation: Dick Navota, Patt Englander, and David Green, as the only other CEOs to have the privilege to lead this wonderful organization.

Their leadership along with the numerous board chairs and board members (some who are here today - please raise your hands) that have dedicated time, talent and treasure to ImpactLife should be highly praised.

To our ImpactLife team members, (and retirees in attendance today) thank you for always leaning into solving the tough problems and never shying away from doing the right thing for blood donors, hospital caregivers, partners, and patients, and most importantly each other. We are a great organization because of the great people doing outstanding work each and every day.

I also would like to take the opportunity to recognize Dr. Louis Katz. Dr Katz has been with our organization for over 35 Years. His unwavering support of our blood center and the blood community at the local, national and international level should be commended. Lou’s impact on advancing blood safety and transfusion medicine is hard to measure. It will have a lasting impact for decades to come. Thank you, Lou, for your leadership and most importantly, your friendship.

Today we also have many local and regional governmental leaders with us (please raise your hands).  Thank you for your leadership, being here and celebrating this important day. 

I would also like to call special attention to the City of Davenport for recognizing us with a Proclamation, proclaiming November 18th – 24th, 2024 IMPACTLIFE WEEK.

Thank you, Mayor Matson.

As you will hear more about shortly, ImpactLife formed in 1974 by the merger of the Scott and Rock Island County Medical Society Blood Centers. At that point we served the Quad Cities and Muscatine hospitals. We were located on East 15th Street in Davenport, in 1976 the operations moved to the Southwest Corner of Locust and Kimberly Road in Davenport. Additions were added to that facility and eventually we outgrew the space, and a new building was built here at 5500 Lakeview Parkway in 2004.

Along the way ImpactLife has been part of many industry leading advancements.

It is very evident that our blood center has always embraced innovation, working at the leading edge of our industry. A few examples of this work include:

• moving from a paper-based donor registration process to an automated computer-based process.
• on-line blood donation scheduling and on-line pre-donation screening for blood donors.
• integrating robotics into the manufacturing operations as well as blood donor testing.
• and recently leading the movement using mixed reality to enhance the blood donation experience.

While I am extremely proud of our history and solid foundation, I am even more excited about our future. As we look forward, we will continue to embrace innovation and change, while never forgetting our foundation.

Continuing our important work in the transfusion medicine space, supporting the healthcare continuum, specifically patients with lifesaving blood components at the hospital and with pre- (or out of) hospital transfusion through our growing partnerships with EMS providers.

I am also excited about the work we are doing to advance medicine. 

As an example, our recently announced partnership in the premarket development stages for frontline On Demand plasma (or lyophilized plasma) to be used in the pre-hospital setting making it possible for emergency medical services to deliver a transfusion at the scene of injury.   

As well as the leading-edge work, we are investing in the cellular therapy space with the goal of not just treating disease states but also hopefully someday preventing and curing diseases.

The size and scope of our blood center and even our name has changed, but our appreciation for our donors, our sponsor groups, hospital partners, volunteers and especially our ImpactLife team remains as strong as ever.

I’m immensely proud to be a part of this great organization and have the privilege to work with such a talented group of people that add up to the best team in our industry.

Happy 50 years ImpactLife!

50 Year Celebrations

• 
  So many cheers for fifty years that we celebrated TWICE in Madison with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Middleton Chamber of Commerce! Thanks to our guest speakers Dr. Ryan Holden from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital - Janesville, Gale Hoerz, and Jake Will! Each of them shared their own connection to blood donation and how we're all better when we work together
• 
  So many cheers for fifty years that we celebrated TWICE in Madison with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Middleton Chamber of Commerce! Thanks to our guest speakers Dr. Ryan Holden from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital - Janesville, Gale Hoerz, and Jake Will! Each of them shared their own connection to blood donation and how we're all better when we work together
• 
  So many cheers for fifty years that we celebrated TWICE in Madison with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Middleton Chamber of Commerce! Thanks to our guest speakers Dr. Ryan Holden from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital - Janesville, Gale Hoerz, and Jake Will! Each of them shared their own connection to blood donation and how we're all better when we work together
• 
  So many cheers for fifty years that we celebrated TWICE in Madison with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Middleton Chamber of Commerce! Thanks to our guest speakers Dr. Ryan Holden from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital - Janesville, Gale Hoerz, and Jake Will! Each of them shared their own connection to blood donation and how we're all better when we work together
• 
  So many cheers for fifty years that we celebrated TWICE in Madison with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Middleton Chamber of Commerce! Thanks to our guest speakers Dr. Ryan Holden from SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital - Janesville, Gale Hoerz, and Jake Will! Each of them shared their own connection to blood donation and how we're all better when we work together
• 
  August 29: We celebrated 50 years of saving lives with a special ribbon cutting and open house at our Fairview Heights Donor Center. A huge thank you to all the lifesaving donors who made this incredible journey possible and our amazing partners who joined us in the celebration. Here’s to many more years of making a difference together!
• 
  August 29: We celebrated 50 years of saving lives with a special ribbon cutting and open house at our Fairview Heights Donor Center. A huge thank you to all the lifesaving donors who made this incredible journey possible and our amazing partners who joined us in the celebration. Here’s to many more years of making a difference together!
• 
  August 29: We celebrated 50 years of saving lives with a special ribbon cutting and open house at our Fairview Heights Donor Center. A huge thank you to all the lifesaving donors who made this incredible journey possible and our amazing partners who joined us in the celebration. Here’s to many more years of making a difference together!
• 
  August 22: More cheers to 50 years! We loved celebrating our 50th anniversary with a whole bunch of friends from the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce and business community. In fact, the representative from the Dubuque Chamber of Commerce, Sully Sullivan, gave his remarks while donating blood! Now that is some commitment!
• 
  August 22: More cheers to 50 years! We loved celebrating our 50th anniversary with a whole bunch of friends from the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce and business community. In fact, the representative from the Dubuque Chamber of Commerce, Sully Sullivan, gave his remarks while donating blood! Now that is some commitment!
• 
  August 22: More cheers to 50 years! We loved celebrating our 50th anniversary with a whole bunch of friends from the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce and business community. In fact, the representative from the Dubuque Chamber of Commerce, Sully Sullivan, gave his remarks while donating blood! Now that is some commitment!
• 
  August 21: Celebrating 50 Years of Saving Lives at our Mattoon, IL Donor Center!
• 
  August 21: Celebrating 50 Years of Saving Lives at our Mattoon, IL Donor Center!
• 
  August 21: Celebrating 50 Years of Saving Lives at our Mattoon, IL Donor Center! Dedicated Blood Donor, David Nelson Myers has also been donating since 1974!
• 
  July 23: 50 years of saving lives in Springfield! We celebrated our birthday with a ribbon cutting and open house. Thank you to all the donors who have made this milestone possible and our The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce partners for celebrating with us.
• 
  July 23: 50 years of saving lives in Springfield! We celebrated our birthday with a ribbon cutting and open house. Thank you to all the donors who have made this milestone possible and our The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce partners for celebrating with us.
• 
  July 23: 50 years of saving lives in Springfield! We celebrated our birthday with a ribbon cutting and open house. Thank you to all the donors who have made this milestone possible and our The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce partners for celebrating with us.
• 
  July 23: 50 years of saving lives in Springfield! We celebrated our birthday with a ribbon cutting and open house. Thank you to all the donors who have made this milestone possible and our The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce partners for celebrating with us.
• 
  July 16: We came together at our Peoria donor center to have a 50 Year Celebration ribbon cutting. Thanks to the support of the Peoria community, we will continue to change the world together.
• 
  July 16: We came together at our Peoria donor center to have a 50 Year Celebration ribbon cutting. Thanks to the support of the Peoria community, we will continue to change the world together.
• 
  July 9: Thank you to the Decatur Illinois - City Government and Decatur Regional Chamber of Commerce in congratulating us on 50 years!
• 
  July 9: Thank you to the Decatur Illinois - City Government and Decatur Regional Chamber of Commerce in congratulating us on 50 years!
• 
  July 3: The Ambassadors held a ribbon-cutting recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ImpactLife. They've been saving local lives for 50 years and Kirby & Maureen were on hand for this blood drive at the Quincy Place Mall. It was also sponsored by Bubba-Q’s - Ottumwa and Ottumwa Radio Group.
• 
  July 3: The Ambassadors held a ribbon-cutting recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ImpactLife. They've been saving local lives for 50 years and Kirby & Maureen were on hand for this blood drive at the Quincy Place Mall. It was also sponsored by Bubba-Q’s - Ottumwa and Ottumwa Radio Group.
• 
  May 28: We looked around for the biggest pair of scissors we could find, but didn't have any luck. So we called our friends at the Greater Burlington Partnership to team up for a ribbon-cutting event, celebrating our 50th birthday!
• 
  May 28: We looked around for the biggest pair of scissors we could find, but didn't have any luck. So we called our friends at the Greater Burlington Partnership to team up for a ribbon-cutting event, celebrating our 50th birthday!
• 
  May 28: We looked around for the biggest pair of scissors we could find, but didn't have any luck. So we called our friends at the Greater Burlington Partnership to team up for a ribbon-cutting event, celebrating our 50th birthday!