Expectant parents are poorly informed about cord blood banking, according to a study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. In fact, of the expectant mothers in the study who indicated they have some knowledge of cord blood banking, 74 percent considered themselves minimally informed. Yet, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences recommends that all expectant parents should be educated about cord blood stem cells early enough in pregnancy that they can make an informed decision about the options to preserve these medically-beneficial cells.
To help address this significant education gap, Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation, the most comprehensive resource for expectant parents about cord blood medical research and cord blood storage options, today announced the release of a new educational brochure for expectant parents in conjunction with Cord Blood Awareness Month. The brochure has been vetted and endorsed by a scientific and medical advisory board of leading caregivers and researchers and follows the guidance of the Institute of Medicine.
The brochure can be downloaded at no cost from the foundation's home page: ParentsGuideCordBlood.org. It has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, German, Italian, Greek, and Hebrew, with more translations in progress.
"Cord blood stem cells are an increasingly important medical resource for saving lives," said Frances Verter, Ph.D., founder of Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation. "This brochure is intended to ensure that more pregnant women have the opportunity to consider saving their newborn's cord blood for family use or donating the cord blood to others who may have a critical medical need. I want all women to understand why cord blood should be preserved and why allowing these cells to be thrown away as medical waste should be a last choice option."
Dr. Verter founded the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood in 1998 after her daughter Shai died of leukemia. What started as a small community service, has grown to become one of the leading parent resources on all aspects of cord blood banking.
The release of the brochure expands the educational mission of the foundation beyond the Internet, into birthing classes and physician's offices. To date, 16 states have passed laws to improve cord blood education during pregnancy, and to encourage physicians to take an active role in educating expectant parents about the options for banking cord blood. A federal bill sponsored by Representative Jackie Speier is currently under consideration in Congress. The brochure from the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation was created to meet the educational requirements of these public policy initiatives and can be distributed by physicians and other healthcare providers.
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1 comments:
Parent's Guide is a great resource. Although the founder is clearly on the side of banking cord blood, she offers lots of information about public and private cord blood banking.
Particularly useful, she has a page that compares the costs of the various cord blood banks. Many of the banks charge annual storage fees above their advertised collection price so beware. That means in the end they're more expensive than others. Look for the few that don't charge these annual fees; it's less cash overall and most of the banks are all fda approved.
It's a good idea to check all the costs before choosing one company over another. Even with the discounts they offer, the storage charges can add up
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