Wednesday, October 7, 2020
San Juan Regional Medical Center Earns National Recognition for Promoting Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation
San Juan Regional Medical Center is proud to announce it has earned platinum recognition from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for its efforts to increase organ, eye, and tissue donor registrations in New Mexico’s donor registry through the Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) Hospital Organ Donation Campaign. The WPFL is a national initiative that unites HRSA and the organ donation community, including New Mexico Donor Services (NMDS), with hospitals and healthcare organizations across the nation in spreading the word about the importance of donation.
The WPFL Campaign challenges hospitals to “let life bloom” by educating their staff, patients, visitors, and communities about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donation.San Juan Regional Medical Center worked with New Mexico Donor Services to prompt new donor registrations through awareness and registry activities such as donor registry enrollment events, sharing donation information through employee orientations, promoting donor registration via social media channels, and participating in Donate Life Month activities.
The 2020 Hospital Campaign efforts added 59,662 registrations to state registries. Since its inception in 2011, the campaign has generated 552,026 registrations. Overall, 11 New Mexico hospitals were recognized through the campaign, which included 1,700 organizations.
“Organ, eye and tissue donation is truly the gift of life. Each donor has the ability to impact eight lives. At San Juan Regional Medical Center, we work closely with the New Mexico Hospital Association and New Mexico Donor Services to make a difference by increasing the number of potential donors on New Mexico’s donor registry. We are committed to saving lives through organ donation,” said Jeff Bourgeois, President and CEO of San Juan Regional Medical Center.
Approximately 110,000 people are currently on the national organ transplant waiting list and over 700 of those are on the New Mexico waiting list. Every ten minutes, another person is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.