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Atlanta, Ga. (October 18, 2012) – Piedmont Atlanta Hospital was among 404 hospitals, 38 organ procurement organizations (OPOs), and 174 transplant programs nationwide presented with an award from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for efforts made to increase the number of organs available and transplanted.
Piedmont Atlanta representatives received the department’s Medal of Honor for Organ Donation for achieving and sustaining national goals for donation, including a donation rate of 75 percent or more of eligible donors at the Atlanta facility. The award was presented for work done from April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2012.
“Our team works tirelessly to give as many patients as possible the gift of a second chance through transplantation,” said Noreen Carew, executive director of the Piedmont Transplant Institute. “It is truly an honor to be recognized for our work by the Department of Health and Human Services.”
Additionally, Piedmont Atlanta’s transplant program was recently recognized as a bronze-level kidney transplant program and a bronze-level liver transplant program by The Donation and Transplantation Community of Practice. This distinction is given based on a program’s post-transplant survival rates, transplant rates and mortality rates after patients are placed on waiting lists.
Mark Johnson, M.D., Piedmont Atlanta’s transplant program director, noted that Piedmont was the only program in the state of Georgia recognized in both the adult kidney and liver transplantation categories. To date, Piedmont Atlanta’s transplant team has completed nearly 2,300 kidney transplants, over 500 liver transplants and three heart transplants since April 2012.
“I applaud these award winners for bringing the ‘gift of life’ to so many,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H. "Their tireless efforts to make improvements in the donation and transplantation field will continue to help save lives."
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at HHS supports the Donation and Transplantation Community of Practice, which brings together donation and transplantation professionals, hospital staff and other professionals involved in the donation process to identify and share best practices.
HRSA is also in the midst of a National Hospital Organ Donation Campaign, which enlists the help of hospitals across the country in increasing the number of people who enroll as future donors on their state donor registry. Recently, 56 OPOs and Donate Life affiliates, 15 state hospital associations and 653 hospitals and transplant centers were recognized for their leadership in this national campaign.
“Many of the organizations that are receiving these awards today have been working for years to help their peers take advantage of what they have learned in order to help everyone succeed, ” said Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N., HRSA administrator. “We honor them today and encourage them all to continue in their work to increase organ donation and transplantation.”
HRSA, which leads federal efforts to increase organ and tissue donation and transplantation, provides federal oversight of the nation’s organ donation and transplantation network. For more information, please visit www.organdonor.gov.
For more information about Piedmont Atlanta’s transplant program, visit piedmont.org.
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