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Harlingen, TX, January 17, 2008 --
Valley
Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen -- which along with Valley
Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville became one of the Texas Cord
Blood Bank’s two donor sites in the Rio Grande Valley in May,
2006 -- has reached a medical milestone by collecting more than
1,000 donations of 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.
“Reaching the 1,000th cord blood collection milestone in just
over a year is something we’re very proud of because it is yet
another way that Valley Baptist is helping to save lives and
contribute to a healthier community,” said Jim Wesson, FACHE,
Senior Vice-President and CEO for Valley Baptist Medical
Center-Harlingen.
“We credit this accomplishment to our entire Women’s Services
team and our physicians for their commitment in educating
parents about the life-saving potential that their baby’s
umbilical cord blood carries,” Mr. Wesson added. “We would like
to thank all the parents in the Valley who allowed us to collect
this precious resource for the cord blood bank.”
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. Patients who have benefited include Zachary, a
3-year-old boy who received a life-saving stem cell transplant
as a result of a mother who donated the cord blood after the
birth of her child.
There is no cost to parents associated with donating, and the
cord blood donated from the Valley is a key component in helping
to build a statewide collection of cord blood that captures the
ethnic diversity of Texans – including the Hispanic population.
Ethnicity plays a key role in finding a suitable genetic match
for patients.
“Valley Baptist-Harlingen has been a great partner in this
project,” said Dr. Norman D. Kalmin, president/chief executive
officer and medical director of the San Antonio-based South
Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC). “The Rio Grande Valley area
has such vast potential for providing a significant volume and
diversity of donations, and they have helped us tap into and
benefit from this potential.”
“I congratulate Valley Baptist-Harlingen on this significant
accomplishment,” said Texas Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. “As a
supporter of the initial funding for the Texas Cord Blood Bank,
I am delighted to see the program’s success in the Rio Grande
Valley and across the state.”
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 (at
Valley Baptist Medical
Center-Brownsville), Dallas and New Braunfels, as part of
the statewide effort to build a cord blood bank that captures
the diversity of all Texans.
“We greatly appreciate the contributions of our partner
hospitals, their patients and, of course, their doctors,” said
Mary Beth Fisk, Vice President of Development and Tissue
Services for STBTC.
Tina Briones, Ed.D., RN, CNA, Vice President at Valley Baptist
Medical Center-Harlingen and co-chair of the hospital’s
Institutional Research Board, was recognized by Cord Blood Bank
officials for her “tremendous support and hard work” in
nurturing the cord blood bank program during its first year at
Valley Baptist-Harlingen. Carol Owen, RN, serves as
Administrative Director of Women’s & Children’s Services at VBMC-Harlingen,
while Karin Hall, RNC, is the Clinical Nurse Manager for Women’s
Services and Celestial Jackson-Partain, RN, CCE, is the
hospital’s Cord Blood Coordinator.
For more information, visit
www.ValleyBaptist.net
and
http://www.southtexasblood.org/texascordbloodbank.asp.
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