The Basics of Being a Donor
Wednesday, 12/7/2016
Milk donors are at the core of Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, selflessly giving their excess breastmilk to babies in need. Moms become donors for a variety of reasons; some are former NICU parents who want to help babies like their own; some have lost their babies and continue to pump breastmilk to donate in memory of their children; others are overproducers and want to do good in the community.
When a mom wants to become a donor, she starts the screening process by completing a phone interview with an MMBNT donor coordinator. This interview covers health information for both mom and baby, and determines donor eligibility. Then, she fills out a detailed medical history form. The final step in the screening process is to complete a blood draw, which MMBNT pays for. The blood draw screens for several conditions, including HIV and Hepatitis B and C.
Once all the screening steps are complete, a donor mom can be approved. While MMBNT is located in Fort Worth, Texas, donors come from all over. The geographic diversity of donors is similar to that of the hospitals and outpatients served, and MMBNT strives to create a convenient experience no matter where donors live.
Donor moms who live in or near Fort Worth often drop off their donations in person, directly to MMBNT. Staff love to meet donors and show them around the office, including the lab, where donors can see processing and pasteurization as it happens.
If MMBNT is not a convenient location, there are more than 40 collection sites, known as depots, where moms can drop off their donations. These include hospitals, WIC clinics, and other sites equipped to safely store milk donations until they can be picked up. Most depots are in Texas, but there are also locations in Arkansas, Florida and Georgia.
While most donors utilize one of these two options, there are still some who don’t have a depot near them. For these moms, the donor coordinators will send them materials to safely ship their milk to MMBNT overnight.
Milk donors are the heroes of the milk bank. At MMBNT, we are so thankful for their dedication to the mission of helping critically ill infants. If you are interested in becoming a donor, click here.
