Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Braselton and Gainesville are partnering with Birth Tissue Donor Services to help new moms donate their birth tissue. Birth Tissue Donor Services has 50+ years of combined experience in establishing this sort of program at hospitals across the country and makes the process easy for expectant mothers.
What is birth tissue?
Birth tissue consists of the placenta, umbilical cord, cord blood and amniotic fluid. Typically, birth tissue is thrown away as medical waste after delivery.
How does donating my birth tissue help?
When birth tissue is donated, it is collected and sent to tissue organizations that make these gifts into tissue grafts. There are many applications for birth tissue grafts such as wound care, burn grafts, cervical grafts and ocular grafts. The tissue grafts act as a barrier to protect wounds from infection, reduce inflammation and reduce scarring.
What do I have to do to donate birth tissue?
NGMC works closely with Birth Tissue Donor Services to offer new moms the option to donate their birth tissue after the safe delivery of their baby. Coordinators at each hospital campus recover the donated tissue, package it up and send it to tissue organizations. A streamlined donation process ensures the focus stays on mother and baby. Informed Consent and Medical Social History forms take only minutes to complete. Donation requires no additional surgical procedures and poses no health risks. There are also no costs associated with donation and donation is completely voluntary.