Document 6445857

Vol. 12, No. 1
winter 2007
What’s Inside: 2 Dear Friends and Colleagues; STA Honors Donor
Families During National Organ Donor Month; STA Family Member
Honored at Sierra Medical Center; News & Notes 3 Our Volunteers Just
Keep Spreading the Word; Bravo! Bravo!; Who’s New 4 Getting to know
Texas transplant recipients; What’s Coming Up; By the Numbers
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DRISCOLL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL APPROVED BY UNOS
TO PERFORM PEDIATRIC KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS
New Horizons is
published quarterly by
Southwest Transplant Alliance
for its employees
and friends.
Driscoll Children’s Hospital was approved by the
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and
Medicare in September to perform pediatric kidney
transplants.
Driscoll is the only hospital approved to perform
transplants in Corpus Christi and one of two in South
Texas authorized to do them, according to UNOS.
Before Driscoll was approved, any Corpus Christi
child needing a transplant was sent to San Antonio,
Houston or Galveston. Two children already are on
the waiting list at Driscoll.
With the launch of the new program, South Texas
children with end-stage renal disease are able to
receive quality nephrology and surgical care closer
to home.
Children and their families will benefit from Driscoll’s
kidney transplant program’s specialized care provided by
an experienced team led by pediatric transplant surgeons
and pediatric nephrologists. In addition, pediatric subspecialists, nurses, dieticians, social workers, pharmacists,
and other healthcare professionals round out the team.
Driscoll’s staff will assist, counsel, and educate families
through dialysis, pre- and post-operative requirements,
and dietary changes so that they may successfully manage
their child’s health and emotional needs.
Southwest Transplant Alliance (STA) welcomes
Driscoll Children’s Hospital as the donation agency’s 11th
transplant center. STA now works with six transplant
hospitals in Dallas (Children’s, Baylor, Medical City,
Methodist, Parkland and St. Paul) and with Driscoll, East
Texas Medical Center in Tyler, Sierra Medical Center
in El Paso, Scott & White Hospital in Temple and UT
Medical Branch in Galveston.
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STA member hospitals honored at the
National Collaborative in New Orleans
STA staff with hospital colleagues as all are honored at the National Collaborative in New Orleans for their roles in
increasing organ donation.
24-hour referral line – 800-201-0527 STA Headquarters – 800-788-8058 Website – www.organ.org
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TEXAS REGISTRY UP AND
RUNNING!
2006 was an important year for Southwest Transplant
Alliance.
We instituted several new services that we believe
will increase the number of opportunities to save lives
through transplantation.
First, we started our machine preservation laboratory
for kidney preservation. At the recommendation of our
Medical Advisory Committee, Southwest Transplant
Alliance began preserving kidneys from expanded criteria
donors and from donation after cardiac death donors, on
preservation machines. The results have been significant
as we have improved our pre-transplantation diagnostic
capabilities of these kidneys and increased our ability to
transplant kidneys from these donors.
The second major initiative was to create an electronic
donor record/referral system. This has allowed Southwest
Transplant Alliance to move toward real time data collection and to offering organs electronically. By the end
of 2006 the electronic system for donor entry was almost
complete and we began initial testing of the system for
deployment in early 2007.
NEWS AND
NOTES
As of September 1, 2006, Texans
can officially register to become
organ and tissue donors. While we
will encourage registration so that we
can share registry details with family
members who might not know their
loved ones wishes, we will continue
to encourage families to discuss
donation on a more personal level.
To register as a Texas organ and tissue donor, visit www.texasdear.org
BRICKS AVAILABLE FOR
DONOR WALKWAY
Southwest Transplant Alliance and
Friends of Fair Park have worked
together to create the Texas Organ
Donor Memorial Walkway, which is
designed to honor organ donors for
the precious gifts they’ve shared. If
you would like to dedicate a brick in
the walkway, please visit www.organ.
org for more information.
SOUTHWEST TRANSPLANT
FOUNDATION NEEDS YOU!
Southwest Transplant Foundation
has long been a valuable resource
for North Texas area patients facing
financial crisis while in the transplant process. While STF has helped
hundreds of people over the years,
it’s our turn to do what we can to
make sure that STF can keep doing
its wonderful work. The annual golf
tournament that raises funds for this
Foundation will take place again this
fall, and the most important thing we
can all do is get teams to play in the
tournament. The more teams, the
more funds raised. The more funds
raised, the more people helped. Do
your share. This year, make it your
business to find one new team for
the annual event. Visit www.swtransplant.org to find out more.
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Dear Friends
and Colleagues:
Sincerely,
James A. Cutler, C.P.T.C.
President and Chief Executive Officer
STA Honors Donor Families
During National Organ Donor Month
We hope you will join us as we
honor the families who make transplants possible.
April 14, 2-5 p.m.
Midland/Odessa
MCM Hotel Elegante
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Another key initiative is Texas Donor Education and
Awareness Registry that was launched by the Texas
Dept. of Health Services. In the coming year, potential
Texas donors will simply need to register their wishes to
become a donor with the statewide registry. Finally, Southwest Transplant Alliance welcomed
its 11th organ transplant center with the launch of the
transplant program at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in
Corpus Christi. We look forward to helping Driscoll
offer the option of transplantation to children in South
Texas and to continuing to help all of our partner transplant hospitals offer a second chance to those on their
waiting lists.
April 21
El Paso, 11 am – 1 pm
Vista Hills Country Club
Corpus Christi 2 – 4 pm
Solomon Ortiz Center
April 22, 2-4 pm
Tyler
The Women’s Center
April 28, 1 – 4 pm
Dallas
Hilton Anatole
April 29, 1 – 4 pm
Beaumont
Lamar University
STA Family Member Honored
at Sierra Medical Center
Southwest Transplant Alliance’s own Marie Phillips
was on hand when Sierra Medical Center remembered
her late husband, Kenny, by naming an ICU waiting
room in his honor.
STA thanks Sierra for remembering Kenny, who
worked with us often to spread the important message of
organ donation to just about anyone in El Paso.
DONOR SABBATH COMING IN
NOVEMBER
Southwest Transplant Alliance
encourages all of its volunteers and
stakeholders to work with their faith
leaders to discuss organ and tissue
donation during services sometime
in November. We have donor pins
to share with you for distribution at
your house of worship, as well as
materials for you to share with your
faith leader. For more information,
contact Pam Silvestri.
24-hour referral line – 800-201-0527 STA Headquarters – 800-788-8058 Website – www.organ.org
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OUR wondeful VOLUNTEERS JUST
KEEP SPREADING THE WORD…
Who’s
NEW
New Employees
Lung recipients and married couple Eve and Jon Wright are active
volunteers for Southwest Transplant Alliance and have done much
to spread the word about organ donation in Texas. They took their
good health and their message globally on a recent trip to Turkey,
Greece and Egypt.
Organ Recovery Coordinators
James Hill
James is a Certified Respiratory
Therapist. Before coming to STA, he
was employed at Baylor University
Medical Center.
Heather Taylor
Heather was an RN in the Pediatric
Intensive Care unit at Children’s Medical
Center in Dallas. She received her BSN
from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Ann Roberson
Ann came to use from the Intensive
Care Unit at Children’s Medical Center. She received her RN from Tarrant
County Junior College.
Alison Seyfert
Alison worked as an Emergency
Department Staff RN at Baylor
University Medical Center. She earned
her BSN from Texas Tech University
Health Sciences Center.
Johanna Barnard
Family Services Coordinator
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BRAVO!
BRAVO!
RON SPRINGS and EVERSON WALLS
for widely sharing their touching friendship and Everson’s plan to share a
kidney with Ron… EVERYONE
WHO VOLUNTEERED FOR
THE ANNUAL SOUTHWEST
TRANSPLANT FOUNDATION
GOLF TOURNAMENT for hanging
tough through rain and a re-scheduling…DR. THOMAS MCGOVERN of
EAST TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER’S ICU for
literally saving a donor case at ETMC, and for
coming back the next day to explain everything
in detail to the nursing staff and students…JUDGE
KENNETH PETERS, HUNT COUNTY J.P. for his tremendous assistance with a John Doe case, and for going
above and beyond the call to make sure this case resulted
in organ donation and lives saved…EMILY SUNDEEN of
PRESBYTERIAN GREENVILLE’S ICU for her tremendous help with a recent case, first staying over her scheduled shift and then coming in on her day off to continue
care of the patient… RN JUSTIN WALKER of EAST
TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER’S ICU for showing tremendous skill and compassion with the family of a potential
donor… LANIECE CHARLES and TRACY LEONARD
of BAYLOR IRVING’S CCU for doing everything they
could and not giving up to help a family’s wishes regarding donation to be fulfilled…RN WENDY HICKMAN,
of MEDICAL CITY DALLAS HOSPITAL for
working with STA on a particularly
difficult case, and for being especially
supportive of the potential donor’s
family…ESMERALDA ROMERO of
Bryan for sharing her moving story
with the Bryan-College Station
Eagle… MARBELLA FRANCIS
and SARAH FOWLER for sharing
their particularly difficult story with
all of the North Texas news media…THE
ALONSO FAMILY for their willingness at
such a difficult time to share their story with the
North Texas news media…EVERYONE AT SIERRA
MEDICAL CENTER for a tremendous holiday party
that truly celebrated the gift of life… EVERYONE AT ALL
OF OUR DONOR HOSPITALS for making organ and tissue donation a priority… ALL OF STA’s VOLUNTEERS
for helping us continue to do this important work, so that
we can save so many lives… STA’s ORGAN AND TISSUE
RECOVERY TEAMS for several years of unprecedented
activity, which ultimately means more lives saved through
organ and tissue donation… ALL OF OUR DONOR
FAMILIES AND RECIPIENTS who do so many wonderful things, many of which we’re not even aware…every
day… sharing their stories in hopes that others will consider donation.
DR. DEBASIS DASGUPTA and DR. ROBERT F. LEROY
24-hour referral line – 800-201-0527 STA Headquarters – 800-788-8058 Website – www.organ.org
Johanna earned her Bachelors of
Social Work at the University of North
Texas and her Masters of Social Work
from Washington. She has worked with
the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition
in St. Louis, Missouri and the Texas
Department of Family and Protective
Services in Dallas.
Kevin R. Dumith
Client Services Coordinator
Kevin came to STA from Sanford Brown
Institute in Dallas (the Career Education
Corporation) where he served as an
Allied Health Education Coordinator.
Kevin received his Bachelors of Science
in Kinesiology Education from Fort Hays
State University and his Masters in
Health/Kinesiology from Texas A & M at
Commerce.
Tom Mathai
Web Designer
Tom received his Bachelor of Arts in
Multidisciplinary Studies from the State
University of New York at Stony. He
has worked with Tribute International
Corp.in Woodbury, New York as their
Information Technology Manager.
Prior to that he worked with Primark,
Inc. Financial Information Division in
New York City, N.Y. as an Applications
Consultant.
Phyllis Poole
Medical Records & Quality
Improvement Coordinator
Prior to coming to STA, Phyllis was a
claims adjuster with AR-CMI and she
also worked with Baylor University
Medical Center.
v P a g e I
What’s
Coming Up
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GETTING TO KNOW
TEXAS TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS
Keith Gaisford recently received
his second liver transplant and his
parents shared some wonderful
photos of Keith without any medical tubes! We wanted to share them
with you and thank you for all you
do to help us save lives through
organ donation.
❤ April 2007 – Organ Donors are
Better Livers STA hosts Donor
Family Appreciation Ceremonies
Across Texas during National Organ
Donor Month.
❤ Spring 2007 – Play Ball! STA
and the Dallas Mavericks will once
again team up to promote organ
donation.
❤ Summer 2007 – Do You Have
The Guts To Be an Organ
Donor? Texas transplant recipients
gut it out against a team of media
personalities in the annual Texas
Rangers Donor Awareness Game.
STA co-hosts this annual event that
raises awareness of organ donation!
❤ Fall 2007 – FORE! Southwest
Transplant Foundation’s Annual Golf
Tournament supports transplant
candidates and recipients. Be sure
to be a part of this important event!
❤ November 2007 – Do You
Have The Soul To Be an Organ
Donor?. Don’t Forget National
Donor Sabbath! Ask your religious
leader to participate!
❤ February 2008 –Do You
Have The Heart To Be an
Organ Donor? STA’s Share
Your Valentines Day with a Heart
Recipient school promotion is always
popular. Heart recipients, get ready
to share your stories with students!
❤ S TA continues to inservice all
member hospitals regarding
Routine Death Notification and
the Donor Process. If you would
like us to visit specially with anyone at your hospital, please just
give us a call.
❤D
on’t forget, STA offers FREE,
customized public and professional education seminars.
Please give us a call at 214522-0255 or 800-788-8058 or
visit our web site to schedule a
program.
❤D
ON’T FORGET TO VISIT US ON
THE WEB AT www.organ.org
The purpose of New Horizons
is to keep you informed
about Southwest Transplant
Alliance and organ donation
and transplantation. Please
feel free to call us and comment. We are always happy to
answer questions and educate
both communities and health
care professionals about
donation issues.
New Horizons is published quarterly by Southwest
Transplant Alliance and
dedicated to those who give
the gift of life. The publication
is written and edited by Pam
Silvestri. Design and layout
are done by Peter Kemp of
PKDesign, Carrollton, Texas.
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BY THE NUMBERS National and Texas transplant waiting lists as of March 1, 2007
National
Texas
Kidney
70,113
5,189
Liver
16,957
1,398
Pancreas
1,752
55
Kidney/Pancreas
2,389
126
240
4
2,841
337
134
7
2,850
169
94,607
7,131
▶
▶
▶
▶
Intestine
▶
Heart
▶
April
Heart/Lung
▶
Lung
▶
TOTAL*
* Remember, these are patient listings and then total patients waiting. Some patients list more than
once, and they’re counted under each organ they’re awaiting, but only once in the overall total, so
the total patients waiting will be less than the sum of the organs listed.
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Mission
STATement
I
Vision
Statement
Southwest Transplant
Alliance exists to save and
improve lives by providing
organs and tissues for
transplantation.
We distinguish ourselves
by forging meaningful
relationships with donor
families and the communities
we serve in order to realize
every possible donation.
Every organ and tissue
donation opportunity is realized
as long as the need exists.
Nonprofit
Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Dallas, TX
Permit No. 1354
3710 Rawlins, Suite 1100
Dallas, Texas 75219