For the third consecutive year, UC Medical Center has achieved “platinum” status in the annual Hospital Organ Donation Campaign, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. More than 1,200 hospitals across the country participated in the 2018 campaign to promote organ, eye, and tissue donation.
UC Medical Center is home to Greater Cincinnati’s only comprehensive organ transplant program, which performs heart, kidney, pancreas and liver transplants for patients with complex conditions. In 2017, 231 organ transplant operations were performed at the hospital.
“This is a wonderful honor that our team worked very hard to achieve,” said Melinda Stutler, RRT, organ donation coordinator at UC Medical Center. “We see the life-saving power of organ donation each day, and we are proud to work to raise awareness of the importance of passing on the gift of life.”
In partnership with LifeCenter Organ Donor Network and other community organizations, UC Health held more than a dozen donor registry enrollment events between October 2017 and April 2018. The academic health system also promoted organ donation on billboards and via social media, organized awareness events for employees, and held the annual Flag-Raising Ceremony at UC Medical Center to celebrate organ donors and transplant recipients.
Nationwide, the 2018 Hospital Organ Donation Campaign resulted in nearly 23,700 donor registrations to registries in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The campaign has generated 443,427 registrations since its inception in 2011.
More than 114,000 people in the U.S. are awaiting an organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, including 2,600 people in Ohio.