MMH to Begin Collecting Cord Blood for Texas Cord Blood Bank
MMH to Begin Collecting Cord Blood for Texas Cord Blood Bank
Newborns Give Hope Through Cord Blood Donations
Midland Memorial Hospital to begin collections
Midland (June 1, 2009)– Midland Memorial Hospital is the twelfth hospital to be collecting life-saving umbilical cord blood for the statewide repository. The Texas Cord Blood Bank, a division of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, is a non-profit program established by the Texas legislature in 2001 to collect umbilical cord blood, which can benefit patients, usually children, suffering from a number of potentially fatal diseases.
Our staff, leaders and physicians at Midland Memorial Hospital are excited to start this process. The benefit potential of cord blood on people’s lives was very important in our decision to partner with Texas Cord Blood Bank. This will make a difference in people’s lives”, says Robert Dent, Chief Nursing Officer at Midland Memorial Hospital
Umbilical cord blood, which is normally discarded after the birth of a baby, is rich in blood-making cells that can be used as an alternative to bone marrow transplants to treat cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, disorders of the blood-making system such as sickle-cell anemia, and severe immune-system disorders.
There is no cost to parents associated with donating, and the cord blood is helping to build a statewide collection of cord blood that captures the vast ethnic diversity of Texans, as ethnicity plays a key role in finding a suitable genetic match for patients.
“We are excited with the addition of Midland Memorial Hospital as a partner,” said Dr. Norman D. Kalmin, president/chief executive officer and medical director of the San Antonio-based South Texas Blood & Tissue Center. “This partnership has great potential to provide a significant help in banking a diversity of cord blood units.”
The Texas Cord Blood Bank’s first collections began in June 2005 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, and new collection centers have been opened in other cities, including Brownsville, Dallas, Houston, New Braunfels, and Waco as part of the statewide effort to build a cord blood bank that captures the diversity of all Texans.
“We are grateful for the support of Midland Memorial Hospital and their willingness to offer this program to the community,” said Mary Beth Fisk, Vice President of Development and Tissue Services for STBTC. “To date, we have banked more than _____ units of cord blood throughout the state.”
About Midland Memorial Hospital
With a history dating back to 1950, Midland Memorial Hospital is well known locally and regionally for providing a full range of acute care services. This 320 licensed bed facility is a specialty provider of emergency medicine, cardiac care, vascular interventions, and advanced radiological and oncology services.
About the Texas Cord Blood Bank
Specially approved by the Texas Legislature and first in the state, the Texas Cord Blood Bank is a source of ethnically diverse, life-saving umbilical cord blood. Cord blood, donated following the birth of a healthy baby, is rich in blood-making cells which can be used, like bone marrow transplants, to treat children and adults with certain cancers and otherwise fatal blood disorders. With more than 30,000 people currently waiting for a transplant to be found, donor families across Texas have turned the birth of one child – their child – into infinite possibilities for patients around the world.
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