Company hires courier to deliver ... cord blood
Dec
20
Written by:
12/20/2011 11:52 PM
Over the years, people have hired courier services to deliver some pretty strange items, and the Las Vegas-based company, Cord Blood America (CBA), provides no exception to our latest in bizarre deliveries: cord blood.
Cord blood is essentially exactly what it sounds like, blood that comes from a baby's umbilical cord. CBA provides safe storage for this cord blood, which also happens to be chock-full of stem-cells. Clients (expecting parents) who opt for this service typically receive a scheduled delivery of a sterile bag and needle to bring with them to the hospital when the mother goes into labor.
Once the baby is delivered, either a doctor or nurse extracts the blood from the umbilical cord using the sterile needle, and deposits it into the provided bag. Then, the parents must call the local courier service that works in conjunction with CBA to pick up the blood, make sure it's stored at the proper temperature and bring it back to the company's private blood bank.
"My vision is within the next 10 years we’ll see organizations like this develop into cellular therapy labs," said the vice president of one of CBA's subsidiaries, Dr. Geoffrey O'Neill, in an interview with Wired.
The use of cord blood for stem-cell regeneration remains a highly controversial topic and is still in the early stages of research, but despite the uncertainty, Wired notes that over 100,000 families in the United States save or donate cord blood every year, investing in the possibility that it could save their child at some point in the future.
In the meantime, if you or your company needs something delivered quickly and efficiently - no matter how strange it may be - don't hesitate to contact your local Chicago courier service.
