U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Presents Mercy Medical with Medal of Honor
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday presented Mercy Medical Center—Sioux City with a Medal of Honor recognizing the hospital for its efforts in organ donation.
Mercy earned the recognition for achieving and sustaining a donation rate of 75 percent or more of eligible donors.
Suzanne Conrad, CEO of Iowa Donor Network, presented the Medal of Honor to Mercy’s leaders.
“Iowa Donor Network is proud of its affiliation with Mercy, and applauds the leadership and staff for reaching a goal it set for itself in 2003,” Conrad said. “Mercy Medical Center—Sioux City is the only non-transplant hospital in Iowa to be awarded a Medal of Honor.”
“To be eligible for this distinction a hospital must have eight potential organ donors or more per year and be able to convert at least 75% of those tragic situations to ones where both donor families and transplant recipients benefit from organ donation.”
“Achieving this award is evidence of the caring, compassion and commitment of Mercy staff to goals that better the community as a whole,” Conrad added.
Mercy’s president and CEO, Paul Dougherty, accepted the honor on behalf of western Iowa’s largest hospital.
“As a regional trauma center and acute care hospital with strong mission-driven values, Mercy is committed to efforts that seek to save and improve lives by facilitating organ and tissue donation,” Dougherty said. “Paramount to our efforts is compassionate, respectful communication with the patients’ families as they consider all the aspects of the end-of-life care continuum.”
Of the nation’s 5,000 hospitals, 392 are being recognized with the HHS Medal of Honor this year.
“We are pleased and proud to see the incredible progress of our nation’s hospitals in increasing donation rates,” said Elizabeth M. Duke, administrator of HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which houses the federal government’s organ donation activities. “In just four years, the number of hospitals that have achieved the 75 percent rate has soared from 55 to 392 – a remarkable accomplishment.”
These significant gains followed HRSA’s launch in 2003 of the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative. The effort brings together donation professionals and hospital leaders to identify and share best practices to integrate organ donation into the hospital’s end-of-life continuum of care. Staff from HRSA and organ procurement organizations like the Iowa Donor Network help participating hospitals identify, adapt, test, and implement practices essential to an effective and family-centered donation program.
The success of the Breakthrough Collaborative has made it possible to transplant 4,146 more organs in 2006 than in 2003. In 2006, 31,184 organs were transplanted during 28,923 organ transplant operations. Of the total number of transplanted organs, 24,461 came from deceased donors, and 6,723 were from living donors.
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