GAINESVILLE, Ga. — When mothers deliver at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC), they have the opportunity to participate in mutual miracles: giving birth and providing life-saving blood to someone in need.
Today, LifeCord Cord Blood Bank recognized NGMC for its life saving efforts to provide cord blood to patients fighting life threatening diseases around the world. LifeCord has shipped six units for transplant that were collected by the staff at NGMC. The celebration included a plaque unveiling and recognition of the hospital and staff’s efforts to collect a record 1,311 donations for the year – making NGMC a top collection facility.
NGMC is one of only two hospitals in Georgia collaborating with LifeCord, which is a program of LifeSouth Community Blood Centers.
“It’s heartwarming to hear that our efforts here at NGMC have directly contributed to saving the life of another person,” says Sara Dyer, director of Women and Children’s Services at NGMC. “Cord blood donation is a great way for mothers to give back to others in need.”
Cord blood, rich with blood-forming stem cells, can help patients who are in need of a bone marrow transplant or cord blood transplant. Cord blood transplants (an alternative to bone marrow transplants) have successfully been used to treated cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell disease. After a patient’s diseased marrow is destroyed, the transplanted cord blood stem cells act like seeds to re-grow healthy, functioning marrow.
“More than 80 diseases can be treated by the blood from the umbilical cord,” said Yesi Sevilla, director of LifeCord. “What was once considered medical waste is now saving lives daily. The donation process is easy, painless and is done after the delivery of the baby.”
For additional information, please visit www.lifesouthcord.org, or call 888-795-2707.
For more information about Women and Children’s Services at Georgia’s #1 Women’s Hospital, visit www.nghs.com/women.
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ABOUT LIFECORD
LifeCord was the first public cord blood bank in the Southeast. LifeCord is different than private cord blood storage because it is free and offers a special opportunity to save lives all over the world. In June 2013, LifeCord became the fifth public cord blood bank in the country licensed for manufacturing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since being founded in 1998 in Gainesville, Fla., LifeCord has helped patients in 29 states and 14 foreign countries.