Cord blood collection

Héma-Québec’s Public Cord Blood Bank has existed since 2004. It aims to make hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood a diverse collective resource and to provide an optimum-quality supply that meets the needs of people waiting for a stem cell transplant in Quebec or elsewhere in the world.

Héma-Québec contributes to the recruiting of donors, particularly through digital advertising and action in the field. Héma-Québec is responsible for registering and qualifying donors, while the collecting itself is done by partner hospitals. Upon receiving the collections, Héma-Québec takes care of the processing, analyses, and cryopreservation of the cord blood units.

Standard operating procedures (SOP) and specifications

Cord blood collection centres

Health care professionals are important players in the program and actively contribute to the evolution of the Public Cord Blood Bank in Quebec.

The role of the health care professionals who work at a collection centre is to:

• take the regulatory training;  
• do re-certification every year; 
• do donor recruiting among their patients; 
• do the collecting;  
• safely package and document the cord blood and plan the transporting to Héma-Québec’s laboratories.  

Regulatory training

Héma-Québec provides training for hospital staff members who work at collection centres.

These two-hour theory courses can be taken entirely online on Héma-Québec’s education platform. To log on to Espace Formation, you must be registered for the training and have obtained your access to the platform.

Find out more about the regulatory training   Login to Espace Formation