About Bedomaich Chayi | Public Cord Blood Bank

About the Bedomaich Chayi Public Cord Blood Bank

The Bedomaich Chayi Cord Blood Bank was established in Jerusalem, Israel, in August 2006, by Dor Yeshorim (Committee for Prevention of Genetic Diseases). Bedomaich Chayi is a public cord-blood bank whose purpose is to increase the number of stored cord-blood units from Jewish and other ethnic-minority donors in Israel in order to save the lives of patients needing a stem-cell transplant, in Israel and throughout the world.
The Bedomaich Chayi Cord Blood Bank is a public, non-government organization, operating in cooperation with several organizations and medical institutions throughout the country.  The establishment of the Bedomaich Chayi Cord Blood Bank and laboratory was funded by organizations and philanthropies from Israel and throughout the world. The Friends of the Bedomaich Chayi Cord Blood Bank operate under the JerusaStem Public Cord Blood Bank foundation.

After our organization concluded feasibility testing and signed cooperation agreements with public bodies, institutions, and voluntary organizations, its steering committee, headed by the founder, CEO, medical director, and director of development, began practical steps to implement our plans. We conducted professional study tours that included visits to the world's leading public cord blood banks. For our model, we adopted the leading model of the first and largest public bank in the United States headed by Dr. Pablo Rubinstein: the New York Cord Blood Bank.

Establishing the Bedomaich Chayi public cord blood bank included the construction of an advanced laboratory, procurement of the most sophisticated and advanced equipment in the world, and the formulation of a skilled team working in accordance with the strictest regulatory standards. At the same time, we implemented strict protocols for the various stages of collection, preservation, and freezing of cord blood. These included registration, questionares, documentation, coordination, collection,transportation, temperature control, weighing, cell counts,monitoring, and dozens of other tests, some conducted in other laboratories. All these steps are to ensure the integrity of the units harvested for preservation and freezing. In 2006, the first unit was harvested at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center and frozen in the Bedomaich Chayi public cord blood bank.
 

Crunching the Numbers:
Frozen cord blood units available at the public bank: 3047
Matches found: 137
"Designated" donations saved in the bank: 48
(Updated 07/01/2011)


Girls suffering from Down syndrome and/or mental retardation are provided with permanent employment in the offices of the public blood bank. As part of their integration into the work force, the girls prepare kits used to collect cord blood. Of course, this process of our operation, like all every other, is subject to strict quality control.

We are Collecting the cord blood at medical centers whose management and delivery room staff are highly motivated to cooperate with our noble, imortant cause. The donor mothers are also delighted and willing to participate in this important project.

The harvested cord blood units are transferred from the hospitals to the Bedomaich Chayi laboratory in Jerusalem for processing, testing, and freezing. We send data of the units' tissue typing (without donor identification) to international databases that hold information of hundreds of thousands of cord blood units from every public cord blood bank worldwide. This data is available to medical centers all over the world, which constantly ask us for more information about units matching their patients' tissue types. The Bedomaich Chayi public blood bank strives to work in tandem with other organizations for the furtherance of our mutual goals.
 

The establishment of the Bedomaich Chayi Cord Blood Bank

The Bedomaich Chayi Cord Blood Bank is the realization of one person’s dream – Rabbi Joseph Eckstein. After being involved in a few cases where patients from the Jewish community could not find a suitable bone-marrow donor, Rabbi Eckstein resolved that the solution of this dilemma would be his life’s mission. He proceeded to build the cord-blood bank with his own hands, from the ground up.
The Bedomaich Chayi Cord Blood Bank is Rabbi Eckstein's latest project, establishing and developing a high quality, large and diverse cord blood inventory that will give hope to many people in Israel and all over the world.
 

Goals of the Bedomaich Chayi public cord blood bank

• To increase the reserve of units to 10,000 by the end of 2012.
• To advance our efforts to receive NET-CORD accreditation during 2011.
• To extend round-the-clock collection of cord blood to other hospitals.
• To arrange "designated donations" for sick family members in accordance with medical recommendation at no cost.
• To establish cord blood collection in  communities and minority groups where the response is lowest at present.
• To provide girls suffering from Down Syndrome and/or mentally retardation with permanent  employment preparing cord blood collection kits.
• To raise the awareness of the importance of cord blood collection among physicians, midwives, mothers, and the general public.
• To promote scientific research into the use of cord blood in order to cure diseases and save lives.
• To implement a comprehensive study determining what is necessary to provide an appropriate response to the needs of Israel's population.
• To promote mutual cooperation with public cord blood banks, institutions, and organizations.
• To promote mutual cooperation with leaders of ethnic groups and leaders of public opinion in order to impress the importance of cord blood collection among all ethnic groups in Israel.
• To maintain a website that provides reliable and professional information about the subject of cord blood.