Umbilical Cord Blood Bank

How do I donate to a public cord blood bank? I am due in about 4 weeks, and have been interested in Cord Blood Banking for research developement purposes. All of the private banks cost to much (insurance will not cover it) and most of the time it is held for your personal use, not to be used for research or to help others in need. I want to donate my baby's cord blood to a public bank (which is free and gets used to help others in need and/or for research). I have come up against a brick wall when trying to find a way to donate as there are no public banks in my area. Does anyone know of a way to donate to a public bank if it is out of your area? If you know of any that are in the central valley of California that would be helpful as well.

What is the difference between private cord blood banking and public cord blood banking?

Cord blood banking? I heard once that you could donate you cord blood to a public bank . Has anyone actually done this and if so how do you get that process started? To be more specific I was actually wondering about donating it to a public bank, not the private banks. With the public banks you can donate for free and it goes to anyone in need not just you or your family.

Cord blood donation? Anyone here deliver a baby recently and not donate your cord blood to the public cord bank? If so, why?

Is it worth getting cord blood banked despite cost and no guarantee of future treatments being developed? The hospital where our baby is due to be born will not do the collection so we would have to arrange a private midwife to be on call to collect it and that is if the hospital will agree to them being there. We gather there are no current treatments to make banking the blood worthwhile and no guarantee there ever will be. Would the cost (around £1500) not be better spent elsewhere for the baby such as being put into savings a trust fund? Also the cord blood banks only keep it for 20 years. Half of the collection is given to public banks. Please answer asap as the baby is due in less than 3 weeks and we may run out of time should we decide to go ahead with it. Thanks everyone!