Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank Awarded Maui Hyundai Grant To Start Public Cord Blood Collections On Maui

Earlier this year, Hawai'i Pacific Health (HPH) was awarded $50,000 from the Hyundai Maui's Tournament of Champions, Hope on Wheels program. The purpose of this award is to help fight childhood cancer across the state of Hawai'i.

In turn, Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank was asked to utilize monies from the grant to promote a public umbilical cord blood program at Maui Memorial Medical Center. Slated to begin in January 2012, this pilot project will support the collection/shipment of donated umbilical cord blood units from mothers delivering at Maui Memorial Medical Center to Puget Sound Blood Center in Seattle, Washington.

We are grateful to our friends at Maui Memorial Medical Center, Maui Hyundai, Hawai'i Pacific Health, Hawaiian Airlines, and Ace Courier for making this possible. These units will increase the number and diversity of available units for children/adults in need of a life saving transplant across the islands as well as worldwide.

FDA & Cord Blood Banks: New Licensure Requirements after October 20, 2011 and the National Cord Blood Inventory

Effective October 20, 2011, public (unrelated) cord blood banks and transplant centers will follow new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cord licensure requirements for receiving and distributing cord blood. As such, cord blood will be identified as a product which will be considered either "licensed " or "unlicensed " under the new requirements.

Prior to October 2011 cord blood units from unrelated donors have been collected, banked and released for purposes of transplant or research under the FDA's IND or investigational new drug regulations.

Effective October 20, 2011, new donors will be reviewing and signing a new consent form, which complies with the new FDA licensure as a "biologic product," similar to an "FDA approved drug." While other requirements regarding processing and labeling must be met to be considered licensed, it is one of the steps needed for a product to be considered licensed.

In addition, physicians, midwives, and nurses who collect cord blood units for Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank must submit annual evaluations** in order for those units to be approved by the FDA. Evaluations were mailed to participating providers and nurses in September with a request to submit the completed form by October 1, 2011.

Any provider or nurse who still needs to complete an evaluation or has any questions should contact the Hawai'i office at (808) 983-2265.

**Collections done by any provider or nurse with no collection evaluation on file will not be accepted for processing, effective December 1st, 2011.

Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank is also continuing to participate with Puget Sound Blood Center in an initiative set by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to bank 150,000 new units of high quality and genetically diverse cord blood (funded by the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005.)

In October 2011, the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO)¹ published a report (click here to view report in full) evaluating the public cord blood banks' progress. In summary, the report and its findings include the following:

º Currently, 41,000 cord blood units have been banked (approximately 1/4 of the projected goal has been met)

º Suggested practices to increase banking, lower costs, and improve efficiency (which many cord blood banks have already adopted since the publishing of this report)

º Identify challenges to meeting the goal (i.e. new staff, building renovations, new processing equipment, etc.)

As a partner with Puget Sound Blood Center, our operations may be affected with the new FDA regulations. We thank you for your patience in this transitional period.

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¹ GAO-12-23 October 7, 2011

Meet Our Team! Randal Wada, M.D., Medical Director Nola Faria, M.S., R.N., Program Director Lynette Matsumoto, Program Coordinator Lisa Wong-Yamamoto, B.S.N., Nurse Educator Camille Cabalo, B.A., Data Specialist
Special Hereos While ALL our donors, physicians, nurses, educators, and volunteers are our heroes, we would like to honor two special individuals who have been great driving forces for our program. This year, Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank honored, post humorously, Dr. Tina Chun and Kathy Evans, RN. Although their passing is extremely sad, we would like to acknowledge the past efforts of these two individuals. This past year, a unit collected by Dr. Chun became our 77th transplant. In 2010, Kathy Evans assisted in the collection of one of our biggest cord blood units at Queens Medical Center. We hope to see this unit, as well as other units that she assisted with, be used for future transplantation. Thank you Dr. Tina Chun and Kathy Evans, RN. The impact of the legacies you leave us will continue to help future patients in need.
Contributors In addition to the many donors who have helped us this year, there are others who have provided financial support in the form of donations or in-kind services. They include: º The Estate of Mrs. Emily Castle º Mrs. Ruth Goodsill º Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation º Independent Order of Oddfellows Excelsior Lodge No. 1 º Upspring Media º Ann Teranishi, Esq. º Judi Young º Ruth Igawa º Randal Wada, M.D. º Kosasa Family Foundation º Gannet Foundation º Alana Dung Research Foundation º Million Dollar Round Table Foundation º Ronald McDonald House Charities of Hawai'i º Wakaba Kai Sorority at the University of Hawai'i º MBFT Media As a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization, we welcome financial support. If you wish to make a contribution, please click the button below to be redirected to PayPal.
Board of Directors Randal Wada, M.D. Raydeen Busse, M.D. Ruth Igawa Pat Oda Ann Teranishi Judi Young Patricia Coppo Nez Calaro Stephen K.C. Mau
Participating Hospitals in Hawai'i º Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children º Kaiser Permanente º Queen's Medical Center º Tripler Army Medical Center º Castle Medical Center º Maui Memorial Medical Center (January 2012)
Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank Offers a Doctor's Portal In an effort to improve practices and facilitate higher communication with our doctor and certified nurse midwife volunteers, Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank rolled out our very own Doctor's Portal. After receiving a login and changeable password, doctors and certified nurse midwives are able to access a limited version of our database which only includes their patients and results of the cord blood donation. They are also able to access various tips and tricks for successful cord blood collection and banking that have been reported by their fellow colleagues. Soon, we hope to add a field which will reflect the date of expiration of their required annual collector evaluations. If you wish to sign up for a login or have forgotten your login/need a password reset, please contact us at the office at (808) 983-2265. Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank Around Town! Feel free to click on the photos to see a larger version. News Interview with Tanya Joaquin (July 2010) (Leigh Barbieto with donor U'i and Dr. Chrystie Fujimoto with donor Maile) (Dr. Chrystie Fujimoto with donor Maile and Sarah Beppu with donor Miley) Baby Expo (May 2011) (Nola Faria, Lisa Wong-Yamamoto, Lynette Matsumoto) (Lisa Wong-Yamamoto and Lace Yamamoto) Ad2 Honolulu's Kickoff Party: "Labor of Love" (October 2011) (Denise Hackman, Dr. Randal Wada, and Arlynn Sakamoto) (Lynette Matsumoto and Malia Alsup) (Eloise Hiura and Arnold Hiura) (Lisa Wong-Yamamoto, Elenita Alvarez, Maggie Tataishi, and Lynette Matsumoto) (Albert Medeiros, Laura Bonilla, Nola Faria, Dr. Randal Wada, Pat Oda, Lisa Wong-Yamamoto, and Major Brett Witt) (Lisa Wong-Yamamoto, Dr. Randal Wada, Lynette Matsumoto, Nola Faria, Maya King, Nez Calaro, Andy Arakaki, Tai Leong, and Malia Alsup) Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank Banks 55 Units in a Month! Celebrated With All Hospitals - Photo from Kaiser Permanente Labor & Delivery (June 2011) (Catherine Melancon, Faith Nickelson, and Kris Oishi)

Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank Has A New Look!

You have probably noticed our new logo on the masthead above. Our makeover comes courtesy of pro bono work by a group of young advertising and marketing professionals called Ad2 Honolulu*. This year, the Ad2 Honolulu team was comprised of Nez Calaro, Maya King, Scott Rasak, Tai Leong, and Kristane Gaspar.

Each year Ad2 Honolulu selects a different non-profit organization to receive free marketing and public relation services which include radio, TV, newspaper, and even shopping mall kiosk placement ads (thanks to donated air time and advertising space).

Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank is grateful to have been selected as this year's recipient and as we shared with Ad2 Honolulu, much of our progress to date has been possible because of our vast network of amazing donors, volunteers, and supporters. So remember, Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank is still the same program, just with a new look!

Please see the description below of the meaning behind our new logo:

The new logo is a simple and harmonious shape comprised of a number of smaller parts and layered with meaning.

It is reminiscent of an ancient Hawai'i petroglyph and within this overall shape lies the story of the Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank.

The open spiral surrounded by dots represent the sun — a symbol of optimism, hope, and a brand new day. The dots surrounding the spiral are a representation of the Hawaiian island chain.

The inner space of the spiral hints at a heart — a direct reference to Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank's foundational practices.

At the center of it all is what the ancient Hawaiians believed to be the center of human power — the navel, or piko — which is also a reference to the Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank's medical practices.

The symbol is an amalgamation of hope, power, culture and tradition.
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*Ad2 Honolulu's campaign for Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank won them the "Best Public Service Campaign" in the Nation. It was awarded at the annual American Advertising Federation Conference in San Diego on June 2011.

90 Transplants and Counting!

Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank has reached new milestones this past year. For example, as of October 2011, 90 umbilical cord blood units collected right here in Hawai'i have gone to recipients across the United States, as well as France, Italy, Spain, and Brazil.

In addition, we have had 2 separate units go to one recipient (double unit transplant), which is a relatively new procedure, aimed at improving the recipient's chances of engraftment (the process by which transplanted or transfused cells from the donor grow and reproduce in the recipient).

We continue to reach out to more and more donors and as a result we are banking more units which can become available to more recipients!



HCBB donors, collections, and banked units are increasing!

Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank Medical Director, Dr. Randy Wada likes to explain the rationale for hematopoietic stem cell transplant as being, "if a little bit is good and more is better, then too much is just right."

In the same sense, collecting cord blood units from as many available donors as possible is our goal.

Unfortunately, only a third of all patients needing a transplant have an appropriately matched related donor. For the rest of the patients, their other option lies in the registries of adult volunteers willing to donate bone marrow or blood stem cells. While there are millions of donors in the U.S. alone, the racial and ethnic diversity of local patients continue to pose special challenges to finding a match.

Fortunately, cord blood provides another source of stem cells. In addition, cord blood stem cells are more forgiving than those of bone marrow. They do not have to match the patient as closely, yet can give equivalent or perhaps better results than bone marrow. This makes it especially attractive for hard to match patients. Partially matched cord blood from two different donors can even be combined to transplant a larger adult patient (double unit transplant).

There is no charge to donate and the process is quick, painless, and risk free.

Are all collected units banked?

Units collected in Hawai'i on behalf of the Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank are processed and stored at the Puget Sound Blood Center in Seattle, Washington. While all the units that are collected and meet our volume requirement are shipped, not all units are suitable for public banking for future transplantation (to unrelated donors).

Of the 200-250 donors we screen per month, perhaps 150 units are collected and submitted for suitability testing. Furthermore, only a third of those units are banked. Often times, donors are disappointed that their units were not selected for banking. However, we remind them that it takes many samples before one unit may meet the criteria for banking and transplantation. Unfortunately, we cannot determine ahead of time which unit will meet this criteria.

Units that are not suitable for banking may be discarded, used for quality control purposes, used to improve methods for processing cord blood, or used for other research. In addition, due to the rich racial and ethnic diversity of Hawai'i 's donors, every donor helps to make the overall process and transplant a possibility!



Click on image to see a bigger version of our stats table.

Emily Castle: A Visionary and Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank Benefactor (1920-2010)

Last year, Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank was saddened to hear about the passing of a dear friend and benefactor, Emily O. Castle. Upon reflection of her support over the years and the impact she has had on this organization, we are humbled and appreciative. Furthermore, we are thankful for her commitment to our mission to help save lives by matching those who need stem cell transplants with an umbilical cord blood donor. Her vision for possibilities in our future has allowed us to by grow leaps and bounds. An article published in the November 06, 2006 Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank newsletter is reprinted once again as a tribute to her and the legacy she leaves us.



Theirs is a special relationship sparked by a deep commitment to helping others and fanned by an equally profound respect for each other.

Mrs. Emily Castle's and Dr. Randal Wada's lives first crossed some nine years ago. Wada had recently returned home from California to join the Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i and the faculty of the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Inspired by the pioneering work with cord blood he had been involved in at UCLA, Wada had already joined forces with Jana Hall, PhD, then the director of the Genetics Program at Kapi'olani Health, to lay the groundwork for a cord blood intiative in Hawai'i. One of the first persons Hall and Wada pitched the concept to was John Walker, Jr., the Director of the Kapi'olani Health Foundation.

As fate would have it, Emily Castle and Maili Yardley, then a board member with the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children, happened to have lunch with Walker soon after he had spoken to Hall and Wada about the benefits of cord blood. "John (Walker) was very enthusiastic about it - and what he told us sounded so interesting that he convinced me to look into it," Castle recalls. "John told me, 'If you want to find out more, you really ought to give Randy Wada a call.'"

The next thing Wada remembers is that he and Hall were on their way to meet Castle at her home. " I had put together a PowerPoint presentation, but I didn't know what to expect." Wada says, "We were still so naive about the whole process of fundraising we would need to start up this organization." Apparently, however, the meeting went a lot better than he might have expected, for a few days later Wada received a phone call from a person representing Mrs. Castle, who explained that she was prepared to make a contribution to the yet-to-be-established Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank.

"It took me a little while to digest what was happening and what the cash value of the contribution was," Wada explains. "After it sunk in, I was in shock." What he and Hall had speculated might take years to accomplish had suddenly become reality. "Basically, we realized that we could start the program," Wada says. "The impossible had become possible - thanks to Mrs. Castle."

"It's very exciting," says Castle, who had previously directed her philanthropic efforts toward funding children's books for libraries. In the years since she had first met Hall and Wada in late 1997, she has become much more than a donor to the still-young Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank, which was officially founded in 1998. By paying close attention to news and developments related to cord blood treatments and research, Castle has become one of the procedure's most knowledgeable, articulate and passionate advocates.

"In spite of never having had any prior experience in the health field, Mrs. Castle grasps things that even someone who is in medicine would have trouble appreciating," Wada exclaims. "She asks me questions that I wouldn't have asked myself, or she'll say something that makes me look at things in a different way, or leads me to see the bigger picture...she always amazes me."

The feeling is mutual, as Castle smiles often and nods her head in vigorous affirmation as she and Wada launch into their familiar, rapid-fire conversations on topics that could range, for example, from cord blood's effectiveness as a treatment for diabetes in Argentina, to Don Ho's experimental stem cell heart procedure in Thailand, to the challenges of collecting and storing cord blood from the Neighbor Islands, to the plusses, minuses and costs of some day setting up a lab and storage facility in Hawai'i, to differentiating cord blood from more controversial embryonic stem cell research currently being debated in D.C., to cord blood's potential as a treatment for HIV....

"This is good," Castle says. "What we really need to do is get the word out to more people. We need to educate others about the benefits that can be derived from cord blood treatments-and the fact that there is no down side. It's all good."

Emily Castle and Randal Wada may have met by chance thanks to a mutual friend, but their Herculean efforts to establish and grow the Hawai'i Cord Blood Bank has been a true and purposeful partnership. Now, some nine years later, Emily Castle looks back at the journey and says in her always straightforward, matter-of-fact manner: "This is the only thing that I'm interested in. Not so much other things, other causes, anymore. This is what motivates me and keeps me busy. This work - what Randy does - is so important. Just think in terms of the lives that can be saved..."