Memorial Nationally Recognized For Work Promoting Organ Donation
Memorial Hospital was among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries in a national campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
NORTH CONWAY, NH – Memorial Hospital was among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries in a national campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The campaign has added more than 400,000 donor enrollments to state registries nationwide.
Memorial Hospital conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors, and community members about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donors and, by doing so, increased the number of potential donors on the state’s donor registry. The hospital earned points for each activity implemented between October 2016 and April 2017 and was awarded Bronze Recognition through the HRSA Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign.
Of the 1,102 hospitals and transplant centers participating in the campaign 218 bronze awards were awarded during this phase of the campaign.
See the full list of recognized hospitals here.
Ethnee Garner, Vice President of Patient Care Services at Memorial emphasized the importance of the coordination between Memorial’s Nursing Coordinators and New England Donor Services.
Garner stated, “This award recognizes the responsibility of our Nursing Coordinators, Will Owen, Marta Ramsey, Doug Darrah, Linda Roberts, Michael Poirer, Devin Copsey, and Jay Laflamme, to report all deaths in a timely manner to the New England Donor Services (NEDS). In the chaos that usually ensues after an unexpected death, the requirement is to report within one hour. The Nursing Coordinator also has to be able to answer the many questions the NEDS requires in order to make a decision. It should be noted that staff at Memorial never approach the family about organ donation; that is the responsibility of appropriately trained NEDS staff. The implications of donations of tissue, skin, bone, and corneas is far reaching. One donor can impact up to 160 patients”.
This campaign is a special effort of HRSA’s Workplace Partnership for Life to mobilize the nation’s hospitals to increase the number of people in the country who are registered organ, eye, and tissue donors and ultimately, the number of organs available for transplant. The campaign unites donation advocates at hospitals with representatives from their local organ procurement organizations, Donate Life America affiliates, and state and regional hospital associations. Working together, the teams leverage their communications resources and outreach efforts to most effectively spread word of the critical need for donors.
For more information on organ donation, visit www.organdonor.gov.
