Mid-America Transplant Services (MTS) presented St. John’s with an
original piece of custom artwork titled “The Flame of Life” in
recognition for their dedicated efforts in helping families give the
gift of life through organ and tissue donation.
St. John’s partners with MTS to ensure that the organ and tissue
donations are carried out. MTS staff talks to families after the loss
of a loved one and consent is obtained for organ and/or tissue donation
with the help of hospital chaplains, nurses, physicians and staff.
In
2009, 35 families agreed to give the gift of life through organ donation
at St. John’s Hospital. This resulted in 125 life saving transplants, a
fifth of the total number of organs donated in the MTS service area in
2009. 77 additional families consented to tissue donation at the
hospital, resulting in more than 3,000 people receiving life-enhancing
tissue transplants.
“The
increase in organ and tissue donations at St. John’s Hospital this past
year is a testament to the extraordinary level of compassionate care
that the hospital staff provides to each and every patient and
their family,” says Dean F. Kappel, Mid-America Transplant Services
president and chief executive officer (MTS). “The healing environment
that is pervasive throughout their organization directly attributes to
families consenting to donation and helping others in spite of their own
grief. We recognize St. John’s for their dedication and compassion on
behalf of the donor families and the hundreds of lives that have been
saved and healed as a result of their efforts.”
St. John’s co-workers who work closely with families making this
decision will also receive a custom pen from MTS. The MTS Chief
Operating Officer, Diane Brockmeier, along with Breita Church, MTS
Director of Donor Programs, will be visiting the various units today
distributing the gifts and saying thank you to those involved.
“Ninety-two percent of patients who present with brain-death at St.
John’s donate their organs,” says Kurtis Abbey, RN., St. John’s
Neurotrauma Intensive Care Unit nursing director. “This is a testament
to the trust families have in the staff and the hospital’s commitment to
organ donation.”
There are nearly
2000 people in the state of Missouri waiting for an organ transplant and
thousands more benefit for tissue donations each year.
ABOUT MTS
Mid-America
Transplant Services (MTS) is a community-based, not-for-profit
organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of human life. MTS
coordinates the procurement of vital organs, tissues and eyes in
hospitals throughout eastern and southern Missouri, southern Illinois,
and northeastern Arkansas
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