Upstate Hospitals Receive Honors for Organ Donation Rates
Five hospitals in upstate New York were recognized Sept. 15 by Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network for significantly increasing their organ donation rates over a 12-month period. The awards were presented at FLDRNâs second annual Organ Donation Collaborative regional conference in Waterloo.
The hospitals achieved the National Collaborative Conversion Rate Goal (conversion of eligible organ donors to actual donors) of 75 percent or more from 2008 to 2009.
Honored were Claxton Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg; Highland Hospital, Rochester General Hospital and Unity Hospital in Rochester; and F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua. RGH and Unity also were honored for having the most improved conversion rate from 2008 to 2009.
The Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative was created to generate significant, measurable increases in organ donation by helping organ procurement organizations and hospitals to quickly identify, learn, adapt, replicate and embrace breakthrough practices. Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester Medical Center was honored in 2005 and again in 2008 for achieving a 75 percent conversion of eligible organ donors to actual donors for a specific, consecutive sustained 12-month period. University Hospital in Syracuse also received this national honor in 2008.
The educational Organ Donation Collaborative regional conference this week brought together doctors, nurses, chaplains, social workers and other health care professionals to establish best practices in area hospitals in identifying and referring potential organ donors, as well as caring for organ donors and their families. Conference guests heard from patients awaiting transplant, the family of an organ donor, and a transplant recipient.
About FLDRN
Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network is affiliated with the University of Rochester Medical Center, coordinating organ donation in 20 counties with a population of 2.4 million and serving 38 hospitals in the Finger Lakes region, central and northern New York.