Donor education, speaker events help ‘put a face on primary immune deficiency disease’

Deerfield, Ill., July 29, 2004 – This spring, six BioLife facilities raised more than $8,000 for the Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF) through their participation in "Putting a Face on Primary Immune Deficiency", a program that seeks to close the gap between BioLife donors and employees and the patients who benefit from plasma-based therapies.

Throughout this two-month campaign, the BioLife facilities in Cheyenne, Laramie and Casper, Wyo.; Great Falls and Missoula, Mont. and Bellingham, Wash. partnered with the IDF, a nationwide patient advocacy group, to educate BioLife employees and donors about primary immune deficiency disease (PIDD), a group of more than 100 disorders in which part of the body’s immune system is missing or does not function properly.

Each center kicked off its “Putting a Face on Primary Immune Deficiency” campaign with a “Food, Fun and Facts” event held during the 2004 Primary Immune Deficiency Awareness Week, the week of April 18-24. Each facility invited donors and staff to the event to learn more about primary immune deficiency disease, and meet a special patient speaker suffering from PIDD. The event also served as a fundraiser to raise money for the IDF’s Regional Family Retreat, which took place the weekend of June 11-13, 2004.

“We would like to sincerely thank BioLife for their generous contribution to the Family Retreats program, which allowed our family to attend this retreat,” wrote Bridget and Chris, one family from Spokane, Wash. “We learned a lot from the education the retreat provided, and our two children, ages 5 and 8, had a wonderful time that I know they will always remember. In addition, thank you for your help in educating people about immune deficiencies and for raising funds to support the Foundation’s Northwest Family Retreat!”

Each center created their own plan for raising money for the IDF. In Casper, the project team created pledge sheets and asked for donations from the local community. They also sold “helping hands” to donors, held a 50/50 raffle as well as a few staff pizza days to keep employees excited about their goal, helping them collect over $2,800 for the IDF.

The Great Falls center held a month-long silent auction and had donors and staff bidding against each other for everything from a night at a local hotel, dinners and even six hours of yardwork! All prizes were donated by donors, staff and local businesses. The staff even organized a garage sale and sold paper “plasma bottles” to reach and exceed their fundraising goal. By the end of the campaign, the Great Falls center had raised over $1,800!

In Laramie, the IDF project team worked to collect donations and prizes from local businesses and sold raffle tickets to encourage donors to join in the festivities. The center raised over $1,500 to support IDF.

In Cheyenne, the staff held an Open House during their “Food, Fun and Facts” event to encourage the community to come in and learn more about BioLife and the patients who benefit from plasma products. Local radio station KING-FM broadcast live from the center to educate the community about the IDF. Thanks to many donated raffle prizes from the community, Cheyenne raised over $500 for the IDF Retreat.

The Missoula and Bellingham centers encouraged donors and staff to contribute by holding a raffle and building excitement about the IDF within the center. The centers raised more $1,100 each for the June retreat.

In total, BioLife helped send eight families affected by a primary immune disease to the June retreat, where the families had the rare opportunity to mingle and network with others affected by the disease, while learning more about the latest research and treatments available for PIDD.

One BioLife donor who attended the event in Bellingham said: "Due to a family member's illness, I began donating plasma as a way of helping others. Attending the IDF presentation really personalized why we donate and it put a face on who we are helping and why we're here. When my co-workers ask why I take a 2-hour lunch on Mondays and Thursdays, I now tell them that I help save the lives of 50,000 children."

"The IDF is pleased to work with BioLife and plasma donors to provide resources to help patients and their families,” said Candace Steele, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at IDF. “In addition to raising funds, this program helped increase awareness about the importance of plasma donation and showcased other ways that lifesaving plasma donors help patients with rare diseases."

For additional information about the Immune Deficiency Foundation, please visit the organization's website at www.primaryimmune.org.

Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the principal domestic operating subsidiary of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), a global health care company that, through its subsidiaries, provides critical therapies for people with life-threatening conditions. Baxter's bioscience, medication delivery and renal products and services are used to treat patients with some of the most challenging medical conditions, including cancer, hemophilia, immune deficiencies, infectious diseases, kidney disease and trauma.

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