The Gift of Hope Organ Donor Care Center at Rush has begun operations as Illinois’ first medical and surgical unit specifically dedicated to managing the recovery of lifesaving organs from deceased organ donors. The center is projected to serve up to 250 organ donors and their families each year.
Donor care centers have emerged as a national best practice to better serve donors and their families, increase the availability of transplantable organs and improve transplant outcomes. The location of organ recovery does not change the strict criteria for placing donated organs with potential recipients on the organ transplant list most in need, based on the nation’s allocation system and policies.
When a patient passes away at a hospital, Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network works closely with the hospital and family members to facilitate the recovery surgery at that hospital. It requires extensive hospital resources and the availability of an operating room. At times, a busy operating room schedule delays the recovery surgery and potentially the number of organs that can be donated as well as how well they will function for a transplant recipient.
With the opening of the Donor Care Center, following family discussion and confirming authorization for donation, Gift of Hope will coordinate the transfer of deceased organ donors 18 years and older at hospitals from Illinois’ northern border south to Kankakee County, and from Lake County, Indiana, to the new 24/7 Donor Care Center. Transferring donors to the center will eliminate delays in securing necessary staffing, testing and resources for donation, and allow hospitals to better utilize their intensive care unit beds, operating rooms, ventilators and critical care staff for other patients while the donation takes place at the Donor Care Center.
“The Donor Care Center is an important advance to our mission to save and enhance as many lives as we can,” said Harry Wilkins, MD, Gift of Hope president/CEO. “As one of the relatively few dedicated donor care centers in the U.S., the Gift of Hope Organ Donor Care Center at Rush will help us maximize the lifesaving gifts that donors give, improve transplant outcomes and benefit our region’s hospitals, donors and their families. Ultimately, it is part of how we continue to strengthen our region’s donation and transplantation system.”
“Rush is proud of its unwavering commitment to excellence and equity, including in organ donation and transplantation, and has longstanding partnerships with Gift of Hope and area hospitals,” said Dr. Omar Lateef, president and CEO of Rush University System for Health and Rush University Medical Center. “Transplant equity is a strategic priority for our institution. The new Donor Care Center allows us to continue to advance access to transplantation and help increase organ donation rates in our region and in communities where organ donation rates have historically lagged.”
The 10,000-square-foot space at Rush University Medical Center is jointly operated by Gift of Hope and Rush, and is independent of Rush’s transplant and other programs. It contains six medical bays dedicated to the clinical management of deceased donors prior to organ recovery and two dedicated operating rooms for organ recovery.
As in every case that an individual becomes an organ donor, a Gift of Hope Donor Family Services specialist remains in contact with the family for updates, information and support for as long as the family wishes to receive it.
Specialized clinicians and allied multidisciplinary professionals from Gift of Hope and Rush staff the center 24/7, including a nurse manager, advanced-practice providers, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, surgical technicians and critical care nurses. Rush also provides pharmacy, laboratory and the other clinical and ancillary services that are vital to ensure a successful organ donation process.
More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a lifesaving or life-giving organ transplant. Learn more about donation and register as a donor by visiting www.giftofhope.org. Then, tell your family about your decision to donate.
About Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network
Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network is the not-for-profit organ procurement organization that coordinates organ and tissue donation and provides public education on donation in Illinois and northwest Indiana. As one of 56 OPOs that make up the nation’s organ donation system, Gift of Hope works with 180 hospitals and serves 12 million people in its donation service area. Since 1986, its work has saved the lives of more than 29,000 organ transplant recipients and improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of tissue transplant recipients. For more information, visit www.giftofhope.org.
About Rush
Rush is an academic health system whose mission is to improve the health of the individuals and diverse communities it serves through the integration of outstanding patient care, education, research and community partnerships. Rush comprises Rush University Medical Center, Rush University, Rush Copley Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital, as well as numerous outpatient care facilities. Rush University, with more than 2,500 students, is a health sciences university that comprises Rush Medical College, the College of Nursing and the College of Health Sciences.
