December 2019 Machias – Down East Community Hospital has earned national recognition for its efforts to engage hospitals in increasing organ, eye, and tissue donor registrations across the state, through the Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) Hospital Organ Donation Campaign. The WPFL is a national initiative that unites the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the organ donation community with workplaces across the nation in spreading the word about the importance of donation.
The program challenges hospitals and healthcare organizations to “let life bloom” by educating their staff, patients, visitors, and communities about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donation and offering them opportunities to register. Down East Community Hospital conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors, and community members about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donors and, by doing so, increased the number of potential donors on the state’s donor registry. The hospital earned points for each activity and was awarded platinum recognition through the HRSA Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign.
Down East Community Hospital, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, and Maine Medical Center were the only Maine hospitals to receive the platinum award. CEO, Steve Lail on the award, “As I stated last year, platinum is not often awarded to small rural hospitals. Part of why that may be true is small rural hospitals don’t have the same resources as larger hospitals. I do know that if we didn’t have a dedicated champion like Donna Renshaw, we would not have been as successful as we have been in promoting awareness. Donna Renshaw, RN, BSN, CNOR has worked passionately on this initiative for years and reaches her goals with the help of co-workers who assist her with this initiative. We are very proud of Donna and the others for what they have done to promote the gift of life.”
If you would like to learn more about giving the gift of life, go to https://neds.org or if you would like to register to become a donor please register at https://registerme.org.
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