VMC Wins the Bloodworks Northwest Contest
Umbilical cord blood is a simple and safe way to make the birth of a child into someone else's second chance. Cord blood contains special blood-forming cells that can be used as a life-saving transplant for patients suffering from many diseases like leukemia or sickle cell anemia. Valley Medical Center partners with Bloodworks Northwest to offer free public cord blood donation for families.
To encourage hospital staff to participate in the cord blood program, Bloodworks Northwest conducted a contest between Valley Medical Center, Evergreen, Overlake, Swedish First Hill, and Swedish Issaquah called the Top-Off Contest. This friendly, local competition among nurses and providers aimed to maximize the volume of collected cord blood units to increase the availability of viable treatments for patients in need. It was a close race over the past three months, with Overlake right behind Valley Medical Center, but Valley's Birth Center team pulled out the win by just 7 grams, becoming the grand prize winner for the 2022 Cord Blood Top-Off Contest.
Bloodworks Northwest and the Valley Research Department cannot express how grateful we are that our Family Medicine Clinic, Women's Healthcare Clinics, and Birth Center continue to support this life-saving mission through the Bloodworks Northwest Cord Blood donation program.
Valley's Top-Off Volume Winners for each month of the contest are:
June: Anna Clark, RN & Kelly Martin, MD
July: Neetu Singh Cheema, MD & Casey Davenport, RN
August: Andriette Hall, RNC
Why cord blood?
Umbilical cord blood has an important and growing role in the treatment of life-threatening diseases. In fact, more than 25,000 patients around the world have received cord blood transplants because parents have generously decided to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood to a public cord blood bank. Eligible donations made to Bloodworks Northwest are listed on the Be The Match® registry so transplant physicians all around the globe can search the database to find a perfect match for their patients. Donations may also be used for cutting-edge research.
Patients with more than 80 diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, sickle-cell disease, bone marrow failure, and immune deficiency conditions may need a cord blood transplant to save their lives; however, diversity in collections is a key component of the program, as minorities are underrepresented in the cord blood bank. Watch video.
Want to be trained in cord blood collection?
If you're a VMC Birth Center staff member who would like to become trained and certified in how to collect cord blood, you will need to complete the assigned training in VMC's Percipio LMS, which takes about 10 minutes to complete, or contact Bloodworks Northwest directly. This training is required by Bloodworks NW to ensure cord blood is collected following the highest standards, and to provide you with a deeper understanding of why cord blood donation matters.