PITTSBURGH – UPMC Presbyterian was recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for reaching the gold level of achievement, the highest possible, for conducting activities that promoted enrollment in state organ donor registries.
The hospital’s efforts over the past year were part of a national campaign known as the Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign led by HHS to increase donor enrollments in state registries nationwide.
UPMC conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors and community members about the critical need for organ, eye and tissue donors.
The activities included passing out information in Pittsburgh’s Market Square, a parade of transplant recipients throughout the hospital, the annual UPMC Donate Life flag-raising ceremony and outreach efforts on social media. UPMC earned points for each activity implemented between June 2013 and May 2014.
“As transplant pioneers at UPMC, we recognize the importance of the gift of life and have always encouraged our clinicians, staff and members of the community to make the pledge to be an organ donor. We are grateful for the support of the Pittsburgh region in making our efforts a success,” said John Innocenti, president of UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside.
In all, 1,228 hospitals and transplant centers participated in the HHS campaign. Their combined efforts have added 327,659 donor enrollments to state registries nationwide since 2011, exceeding the HHS goal of 300,000.
In Pennsylvania, more than 4.5 million people, or 46 percent of registered drivers, are registered organ donors.
UPMC works closely with the Center for Organ Recovery & Education, one of 58 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations in the United States, to promote organ donor awareness all year long.
For more than 30 years, UPMC has been providing care to adult and pediatric transplant patients through services at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, the UPMC Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Children’s Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation.
Today, UPMC has performed more than 17,000 transplants, including heart, lung, intestinal, kidney, liver, pancreas and multiple-organ transplants, along with heart assist device implantation.
