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"From Best Practices to Common Practice": An Initiative Built on the Best Practices of High Performing Donation Service Areas Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has launched another phase of his plan to increase donation rates in the United States. With this new initiative, Secretary Thompson challenged the 300 hospitals with the highest number of eligible donors to increase their donation rate in their institutions to 75%. The aim of this Collaborative is to dramatically increase access to transplantable organs. The hospitals within Tennessee Donor Services service area include: Erlanger Medical Center, Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, Johnson City Medical Center, University of Tennessee Memorial Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In 2002, almost 60% of the eligible donors identified in the United States were concentrated in only 300 hospitals. Unfortunately, not all of the eligible donors became actual donors. In the United States only 46% of the eligible donors become actual donors. Most hospitals across the country have a donation rate of 30-55%, with some hospitals having rates at 5% or less. There are some hospitals that have achieved great success. Seventeen of the top 300 hospitals have programs that enable donation in over 75% of eligible donation cases. This initiative is aimed at using the principles and practices in these top hospitals and with their respective Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and put these practices into place in all hospitals. By understanding which hospitals and OPOs have outstanding donation rates, it is possible to identify and disseminate best practices. By gathering a collective wisdom of participants and a panel of experts, this collaboration provides the necessary technical and social support needed to help teams from participating organizations to make dramatic improvements. Secretary Thompson has set a benchmark of 75% for all hospital organ donation rates. He has given each hospital a new target to reach; 46% is not good enough to meet the needs of all the patients waiting for life-saving organ transplant. For more information, call your local Tennessee Donor Services office or your local Organ Procurement Organization.
NATIONAL
DONOR MEMORIAL
Honoring
America’s Organ and Tissue Donors
To honor America’s
organ and tissue donors and their families, to highlight the impact of their
gift of life on the lives of so many others, and to underscore the critical
importance of increasing organ donation, the United Network for Organ Sharing
has created the National Donor Memorial at their headquarters in Richmond,
Virginia as an expression of the transplant community’s gratitude. A WAY TO SAY THANK YOU.
The mother of a young girl who became an organ donor. - a husband who gave his
wife one of his kidneys - a grateful liver recipient…. what
common thread do these individuals share? Along with other organ donor
family members and recipients from all over the country, these volunteers have
come together to guide the design of the National Donor Memorial. Their efforts were realized
in spring of 2003 in a 10,000-square-foot walkway and garden that
symbolically leads visitors through the organ and tissue donation experience.
The journey guides visitors past a wall of tears and a dramatic wall of
first names, to a bright, open lawn and a peaceful grove with flowing water.
This design allows visitors to reflect and ultimately be consoled each time they
visit. AN INTERACTIVE TRIBUTE.
Complementing the walkway and garden is the interior portion of the
memorial. In the lobby of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
headquarters, a free-standing computer kiosk houses Internet-based tributes
and photographs of donors from across the country. UNOS creates the
Web pages. Donor families, friends and recipients, however, will provide
the words and images to honor and celebrate their loved ones. Most
important, anyone with Internet access can participate in the
experience. Also honoring America’s organ and tissue donors is a
continuous slide show projected against a lobby wall. The memorial is a way to say
thank you. But the memorial doesn’t end there. It serves as a
reminder to everyone that organs are scarce, and the need is great. To learn more about how you
can get involved, contact Marcia Manning with UNOS at manninmd@unos.org
or visit www.donormemorial.org .
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Regional Offices Golden State Donor Services 1.916.567.1600 Referrals 1.800.762.8819 Fax 1.916.567.8300 Mountain Region Donor Services 1.423.915.0808 Referrals 1.888.562.3774 Fax 1.423.915.1170 New Mexico Donor Services 1.505.843.7672 Referrals 1.800.843.7672 Fax 1.505.343.1828 Sierra Eye and Tissue Donor Services 1.916.569.0200 Referrals 1.800.762.8819 Distribution 1.800.435.5780 Fax 1.916.569.0300 Tennessee Donor Services Nashville 1.615.234.5251 1.888.234.4440 Referrals 1.800.969.4438 Fax 1.615.320.1655 Tennessee Donor Services Chattanooga 1.423.756.5736 Fax 1.423.756.5904 Tennessee Donor Services Knoxville 1.865.588.1031 Fax 1.865.588.5903 Tennessee Donor Services Jackson 1.731.425.6393 Our Corporate Office DCIDS Organ Services 1.888.234.4440 DCIDS Tissue Services 1.888.234.4399 DCIDS Tissue Orders 1.888.216.0319
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