1,000 Newborns Have Given Hope Through
Cord Blood Donations

Medical City-Dallas hospital reaches 1000 collections
for the Texas Cord Blood Bank

DALLAS (December 10, 2007) – Medical City Dallas Hospital, which became the Texas Cord Blood Bank’s first and only donor site in North Texas in August of 2006, recently reached a medical milestone, having collected 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.

“New parents at Medical City have been remarkably receptive to the cord blood bank program, as they learn of the life-saving potential that umbilical cord blood carries” said Britt Berrett, President and CEO of Medical City. “When we started the program last year we expected success, but 1,000 collections in just over a year is fantastic, and we are so proud to contribute to this wonderful, life-saving resource.”

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 state-wide 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.

“Medical City has been a great partner in this project,” said Dr. Norman D. Kalmin, President/CEO and Medical Director of the San Antonio-based South Texas Blood & Tissue Center. “The Dallas area has such vast potential for providing a significant volume and diversity of donations, and Medical City has helped us tap into and benefit from this potential.”

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 at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen and Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio and McKenna Memorial Hospital in New Braunfels as part of the statewide effort to build a cord blood bank that captures the diversity of all Texans.

“We have banked more than 2,275 units of cord blood with the goal of reaching 6,500 banked units,” said Mary Beth Fisk, Vice President of Development and Tissue Services for STBTC. “We greatly appreciate the contributions of our partner hospitals and their patients. Whether a donation is eligible for banking, each time a family makes that selfless decision to donate their child’s cord blood, we are one-step closer to finding treatment for someone in need.”

Contacts:

For Medical City -      Beth Ann Black, 972-745-7638, bethann@victorymc.com
Dena Buford, 972-462-7525, dena@victorymc.com

For STBTC -   

Carmen Davila, Director of Community Relations, 210-731-5519
Lisa Cruz, 210-227-0221 x244, lcruz@dublinandassociates.com