Hospital earns award for organ donation rate

Knowing that at any given time 80,000 people in the United States are awaiting transplants, Saint Francis Medical Center works to ensure that families of patients facing imminent death are given an opportunity to donate organs.

And its efforts have paid off. Earlier this month Saint Francis was awarded a medal of honor for achieving organ donation consent rates at or above 75 percent. The awards were given by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at a dinner at the first National Learning Congress on Organ Donation in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Saint Francis Medical Center was one of 184 hospitals across the United States to receive the award.

Mid-America Transplant Services also received the award.

"We're delighted to receive this recognition, and we're glad we could assist in a tragic situation where death is involved and turn it around to give the gift of life to someone else," said Jeannie Fadler, vice president of patient care for Saint Francis.

The program in which Saint Francis took part was developed by HHS and helps hospitals meet the requirements of notifying the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network of all imminent brain death patients and increasing the donor rate to 75 percent.

If the person facing imminent death is found to be an appropriate donor, transplant personnel work with family members to help them through their tragedy and encourage them to donate organs.

"I look at the medical chart and discuss with the doctor what his plan with patient is, what test he going to use to determine brain death, what his process is, and offer to assist in helping family understand that process," said Breita V. Church, describing the process followed after notification. Church is a donation specialist with Mid-America Transplant Services.

Church said clinical nurses are also trained to be alert to medically suitable potential donors.

"When a patient is about to be declared brain dead, we work with the family to help them understand what is happening to their loved one, educate them to the process so they can understand what is involved," Church said, adding, "We also give the family something positive to bring out of their tragedy."

Forty lives were saved as a result of Saint Francis's 77 percent conversion rate, which is defined by the number of people who are approached and the number who ultimately consent to donate.

Before participating in the program, Saint Francis's conversion rate was 34 percent.

The national average donation rate in all hospitals was 55 percent last year.

lcianci@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127