News & Events | Non Profit Tissue Banking Organizations Form Partnership to Benefit Community

NOVEMBER 9, 2004, SEATTLE — Two nonprofit leaders in tissue banking, Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) and Northwest Tissue Services, announced a new agreement today to make MTF’s proprietary tissue grafts more accessible to patients in hospitals served by the Tissue Center.

Through the agreement, MTF processes bone provided by the Tissue Center into highly machined, precisely tooled bone grafts and demineralized bone pastes, putties and gels. MTF’s partner, Synthes, promotes these tissues in local healthcare facilities and hospitals. The Tissue Center will distribute both of these categories of innovative allografts that improve patient care.

The partnership allows both nonprofits to maintain their longstanding commitment to keeping recovered tissue in their original regions – a very important goal for community based organizations such as MTF and the Tissue Center. According to the Northwest Tissue Services, 85 percent of the tissue it provides stays in its region, which consists of Washington, Montana and northern Idaho.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to meeting the region’s needs for transplanted tissue, we’ve entered into a partnership with a national tissue processor we trust,” said Margery Moogk, director of Northwest Tissue Services. “In formulating this relationship with our new partner, some issues were non-negotiable for us. We are committed to providing allografts from bone we recover in our community, so we can be confident that donor suitability, recovery and processing, serological screening, and microbiological testing comply with our rigorous policies and procedures. We sought a relationship with a partner who respects that objective. We believe that MTF adheres to the same strict policies and procedures in community tissue banking.”

The agreement brings together two organizations with high standards, ensuring that high quality grafts are available to meet increasing demand in the community.

“Northwest Tissue Services is one of the true leaders in our field,” said MTF’s Executive Vice President of Donor Services, Martha Anderson. “They have a well-deserved reputation of excellence and commitment to quality and safety in tissue banking. MTF is very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Tissue Center so that we can jointly increase the availability of MTF-processed allografts to patients in the Northwest.”

A commitment to donors and their families is another important aspect of the mission shared by the Tissue Center and MTF. Since its inception, the Northwest Tissue Services's specialists in donation and hospital services have been educating regional hospital staffs on the process of referring potential donors and offering the option of donation to families. It is only through these community partnerships and the generosity of those who donate that these life-enhancing transplants are available.

About Northwest Tissue Services
Northwest Tissue Services is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, community-sponsored tissue bank established to provide high-quality human tissue for transplant to patients in the Northwest. The program depends on contributions made by generous people who have consented to donation after the death of a family member. Bone, tendons, skin grafts and heart valves can significantly improve the quality of life for transplant recipients by preventing amputation, restoring mobility, relieving pain and sometimes saving lives. The Tissue Center, a department of the nonprofit Puget Sound Blood Center, was established in 1988. For more information, visit the Tissue Center at www.nwts.org.

About MTF
The Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation is the country’s largest tissue organization dedicated to providing quality tissue through a commitment to excellence in education, research, recovery and care for recipients, donors and their families. A not-for-profit organization, MTF is a consortium of academic medical institutions and organ and tissue recovery organizations across the country. In 2003, more than 300,000 tissue grafts were distributed by MTF, helping over 225,000 patients. MTF, based in Edison, New Jersey, was established in 1987. For more information, visit MTF’s website at www.mtf.org.