Blood Center Looks to The Future
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe president of the Indiana Blood Center says the organization is shifting focus after losing partnerships with Indiana University Health and St. Vincent Health. Byron Buhner says, while the center's mission is not changing, it will have to seek out more regional, rather than local, partners. The Blood Center has formed a partnership with The Milk Bank, which creates eight new depots for donor mothers to drop off milk. The organizations say the agreement could allow milk to get to hospitals more quickly. Buhner and Milk Bank Director Janice Sneider O'Rourke discussed the collaboration with Barb Lewis on Inside INdiana Business Television. Buhner says the partnership “personifies our mission” and believes it is the first of its kind in the nation.
Sneider says milk donations can now be dropped off at Indiana Blood Center’s 8 locations:
Carmel
Columbus
Downtown Indy
Fishers
Greenwood
Lafayette
Muncie
Terre Haute
She says the agreement opens The Milk Bank up to areas in Indiana where there were no
milk depots before, especially Terre Haute.
The Milk Bank provides pasteurized donor human milk to NICUs all over the Midwest and has the capability to provide it to NICUs all over the country. Sneider says this model could be adopted regionally/nationally as a result. Current, The Milk Bank has depots in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky.
Sources: Indiana Blood Center, The Milk Bank