SJRMC Receives Health & Human Services Medal of Honor for Organ Donation
January 12, 2007 - Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center received national recognition as it was awarded the Department of Health and Human Services Medal of Honor for Organ Donation. The Medal of Honor was presented to SJRMC on Monday, January 15, at 1:00 PM in the EMS Conference Room at the hospital’s South Bend Campus.
SJRMC Staff and Administrators accept the Dept. of Health & Human
Services Medal of Honor for Organ Donation.
From left to right: Ruth
Hutt, Indiana Organ Donation Organization Coordinator; Linda DeHahnm,
SJRMC Center for Spiritual Care; Lori Price, SJRMC Chief Operating
Officer; Keely Paston, Quality Care Coordinator; Dee Harman, RN, ICU;
Paige Edison, RN, ICU; Anne Short, RN, ICU; Dr. Thomas Lavelle, SJRMC
Chief Medical Officer.
United States hospitals with eight or more potential organ donors during a 26-month award period, ending in June 2006, were eligible for Medals of Honor. All winning hospitals had to achieve and sustain a donation rate of 75 percent or more from among eligible donors for at least a year. There were 371 winning hospitals, coming from a pool of 787 that met eligibility criteria. Saint Joseph was one of seven hospitals in Indiana receiving the Medal of Honor.
"We acknowledge the need for lifesaving organs for those who are sick and we have seen the comfort that grieving families can experience by donating the gift of life," said Nancy R. Hellyer, SJRMC’s President and CEO. "We remain respectful to the needs of the donating patient and the patient’s family members at all times."
To raise awareness about the vital importance of organ and tissue donation to the nation’s health and to increase donation rates, the Department of Health and Human Services began the Gift of Life Donation Initiative in April 2001. The purpose of the collaborative effort is to increase the average conversion rate of eligible donors from the current average of 43 percent to 75 percent in the nation’s 300 largest hospitals; to increase donations by up to 1,900 donors per year; to increase the number of transplantations by 6,00 per year; and to help save the lives of thousands of people each year and prevent up to 17 deaths per day.
- return to top -