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Our Blood Institute Celebrates Grand Opening of New Office in North Oklahoma City

Take a look inside Our Blood Institute’s grand opening celebration and hear from the patients, community leaders and supporters who helped mark this exciting milestone.

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Nearly 50 Years of Growth, One Exciting New Home

Our Blood Institute celebrated a new chapter in its nearly 50-year history Tuesday, Aug. 11, with the grand opening and ribbon cutting of its new office in north Oklahoma City.

The event brought together OBI employees, members of its Board of Directors, hospital and community partners, patient and community advocates, elected officials and other supporters. U.S. Reps. Frank Lucas and Kevin Hern and State Rep. Eric Roberts joined the celebration, along with representatives from the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and partners who helped bring the new office to life, including Diversified Construction and ADG Architecture.

The new, company-owned office brings together nearly 250 employees in the Oklahoma City metro area and serves as a central hub for departments supporting Our Blood Institute’s work across Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.

For Dr. John Armitage, president and CEO of Our Blood Institute, the new office is a reflection of how much the organization has grown since its founding nearly 50 years ago.

“This new office reflects how much Our Blood Institute has grown over the past 50 years and where we’re headed next,” said Dr. John Armitage, president and CEO of Our Blood Institute. “It gives our team a space to work together more effectively while keeping us rooted in the Oklahoma City community that has supported our mission from the beginning. Ultimately, everything we do here is about better serving our donors, our hospital partners and the patients who depend on us.”

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A New Chapter for Our Blood Institute

    The new office also gives new life to a building that previously sat vacant. Armitage compared that transformation to the impact blood donors make every day by giving something of themselves that can be put to greater use for someone else.

    The move places OBI in a growing area of north Oklahoma City and provides a space designed to support the organization, its employees and its mission for years to come.

    Supporting the Local Blood Supply

    Congressman Lucas shared a personal connection to blood donation, recalling a community member who battled leukemia when he was a child in the 1960s. His father was among a group of local donors who regularly answered the call when blood was needed.

    “I've watched from a time as a small child how important the availability of the blood supply is and how important it is as citizens, that we work together to make that happen,” Lucas said.

    Congressman Hern also spoke about the importance of maintaining a strong blood supply and shared his own experience donating blood with his wife at OBI’s Tulsa donor center.

    “We read about and see every day about the shortage of the blood supply out there and anything we can do to continue to fulfill the obligations we have as Americans to make sure our blood supply is full and that we're ready for anything that comes about is tremendous,” Hern said.

    More Than a Building

    For patient and community advocate Ryan McLaughlin, the new office represents something much more personal.

    McLaughlin and her husband, Mike, are parents to five children, three of whom have received blood or blood products because of rare medical diagnoses. Since the birth of their eldest daughter, Ellie Kate, in 2005, blood donation and Our Blood Institute have become an important part of the McLaughlin family's story.

    “For families like mine, OBI is not just an organization, it's an absolute lifeline,” McLaughlin said. “It represents preparation before a crisis, hope during uncertainty and the quiet assurance that when a child or a patient, a family needs blood, someone has already stepped forward to give.”

    McLaughlin thanked the donors, volunteers, medical partners, staff and community leaders who make that possible every day.

    Nearly 50 Years of Partnership in Oklahoma City

    Hardy Watkins with the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber closed the ceremony by recognizing OBI’s longstanding impact on the community.

    “The work that you do day in and day out moves our community forward, and that matters,” Watkins said. “And the innovation that's been happening here for decades matters.”

    Watkins also shared that Our Blood Institute has been a Greater Oklahoma City Chamber member for 49.5 years and will celebrate 50 years of Chamber membership in March.

    Following the remarks, OBI leaders, employees, board members and community partners gathered for the official ribbon cutting before guests toured the new office.

    The new space marks an exciting milestone for Our Blood Institute while supporting the same mission that has guided the organization for nearly 50 years: ensuring blood is available for patients when they need it.

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