Two Baystate Hospitals Recognized for Promotion of Organ Donation
WESTFIELD, WARE — Baystate Noble Hospital and Baystate Mary Lane Hospital are among a select group of hospitals and transplant centers nationwide recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for reaching gold, silver, or bronze levels of achievement by conducting activities that promoted enrollment in state organ-donor registries. The hospitals are part of the national Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) Hospital Campaign, sponsored by HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
The hospitals’ awareness and registry campaigns educated staff, patients, visitors, and community members on the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donors and thereby increased the number of potential donors on the state’s donor registry. The institutions earned points for each activity implemented during Phase IV of the campaign, between Aug. 1, 2014 and April 30, 2015, and were awarded gold recognition by HRSA.
Of the 1,658 hospitals and transplant centers enrolled in the campaign, 736 were awarded recognition during this phase of the campaign. These numbers represent a 29{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} increase in enrollment and a 56{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} increase in recognition over Phase III, and, according to HRSA, are “a tribute to the work that so many have dedicated to this effort. Most important, since launching in 2011, the campaign has added more than 350,000 donor enrollments to state registries around the country, far surpassing the original goal of 300,000.”
This campaign is a special effort of HRSA’s WPFL designed to mobilize the nation’s hospitals to increase the number of those registered as potential organ, eye, and tissue donors. The campaign unites donation advocates at hospitals with representatives from their organ-procurement organizations, Donate Life America state teams, and state hospital associations. Working together, teams leverage communications resources and outreach efforts to proactively promote the critical need for donors.
