Héma-Québec is a non-profit organization that supplies blood and other biological products of human origin to hospitals for the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The organization's headquarters is located in the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

borough of

Saint-Laurent, Quebec Saint-Laurent () is a borough of the city of Montreal, Canada, located in the northern part of the island. Although it is no longer an independent city, it is still commonly known as Ville Saint-Laurent (''City of Saint-Laurent'') or by its initi ...

, and it was created on March 26, 1998 as a successor to the

Canadian Red Cross The Canadian Red Cross Society ()Krever Commission. As a supplier, Héma-Québec is responsible for recruiting donors and for collecting, testing and processing the blood products, and delivering them to hospitals. Supplying cell and tissue products to hospitals is also an important component of its mandate. Héma-Québec is responsible for the
Stem Cell Donor Registry for Quebec
and for the firs

operating in Canada. It also collects, processes and distributes human tissues such as corneas, skin, bones, heart valves and tendons, and manages the onl

in Quebec. Héma-Québec also manages the onl

in Quebec, whose purpose is to meet the needs of very premature newborns. It recruits and screen donors and then processes and tests the milk and distributes it to hospitals.

Plasmavie - Plasma Donor Lounges

In November 2013, the firs

specialized in collecting

plasma Plasma or plasm may refer to: Science * Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter * Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral * Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics Biology * Blood pla ...

opened its doors in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

. Since then, Héma-Québec has opened additional Plasmavie centres in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional count ...

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

and Saguenay. The Saguenay and Gatineau centres also have space dedicated to whole blood donations. Plasmavie centres collect plasma by

apheresis Apheresis ( ἀφαίρεσις (''aphairesis'', "a taking away")) is a medical technology in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus that separates out one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation ...

. Plasma collected at the centres is processed to manufacture drugs such as

immunoglobulins An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

, which are used, for example, in the treatment of patients with immune system deficiencies. Under the supervision of Héma-Québec, plasma is also fractionated and transformed into medications that are sold to

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

hospitals in the same way as standard blood products.

Human Tissues

Héma-Québec works to raise awareness among the public and hospital professionals about the importance of referring deceased donors for the collection of

human tissue In biology, tissue is a biological organizational level between cells and a complete organ. A tissue is an ensemble of similar cells and their extracellular matrix from the same origin that together carry out a specific function. Organs are ...

s, including

cornea The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and lens, the cornea refracts light, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical power ...

s. Héma-Québec also collects the tissues, transforms them and distributes them to hospitals.

Cord Blood Bank

Héma-Québec manages Québec’s onl
Public Cord Blood Bank
The organization recruits

cord blood Cord blood (umbilical cord blood) is blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord after childbirth. Cord blood is collected because it contains stem cells, which can be used to treat hematopoietic and genetic disorders su ...

donor mothers, trains teams of midwives and obstetricians, and qualifies, transforms and stores the

Mothers' Milk Bank

Since spring 2014, Héma-Québec has also been providing mothers’ milk to mothers of premature babies who are unable to breastfeed their newborn child.

Board Directors and committees

Héma-Québec’s Board of Directors is composed of representatives of blood donation volunteers, hospital transfusion physicians, hospital administrators, the public health system, the research and business communities, and blood product recipients, as well as the organization’s President and CEO, Nathalie Fagnan. All members of the Board of Directors—with the exception of the President and CEO—are appointed by the Québec government following consultation with various authorities representing stakeholders in the transfusion chain. The President and CEO is appointed by Héma-Québec’s Board of Directors. The Board receives recommendations from three advisory committees: * Safety Advisory Committee * Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee * Recipient Representatives Advisory Committee

References

External links

Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hema-Quebec Medical and health organizations based in Quebec Non-profit organizations based in Montreal Saint-Laurent, Quebec Blood banks in Canada