1,000 Valley Mothers, Newborns
Give Hope to Others through
Umbilical Cord Blood Donations

Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen
delivers more than 1,000 life-saving collections
to Texas Cord Blood Bank

HARLINGEN, Texas (Jan. 15, 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.

“To date, we have banked more than 2,400 units of cord blood throughout the state,” said Mary Beth Fisk, Vice President of Development and Tissue Services for STBTC. “We greatly appreciate the contributions of our partner hospitals, their patients and, of course, their doctors.”

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.

About Valley Baptist Health System

Valley Baptist Health System is a community health service providing spiritually-based health, education and charitable programs in accordance with the teachings and healing ministry of Jesus Christ.

Valley Baptist extends many of its services beyond its facilities and into local communities, offering services and expertise to area businesses and other organizations through its Value Partners and other programs including free screenings for the community, support groups and numerous educational opportunities.   For more information, visit www.ValleyBaptist.net. 

About Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen

Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, which was named the number one hospital in the nation for treating heart failure patients in 2007, is a 586-bed not-for-profit hospital which has been serving the Rio Grande Valley with excellence and compassion since 1925.  Many of Valley Baptist-Harlingen’s programs and doctors have received national and statewide recognition, including being named one of the Thomson Top 100 hospitals in the nation for cardiovascular care and the number two hospital in Texas for treating heart attack patients in 2007. To learn more, visit www.valleybaptist.net.

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.