One organ donation can “save up to eight lives,” Markham Stouffville Hospital says, while one tissue donation can “enhance up to 75 people.”
ICU manager Sevi Cesta focused on the importance of organ donations in light of the hospital’s recent achievement.
MSH, on Friday, Jan. 13, received an achievement award from the Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) for exceeding expected conversion rates on organ donation.
The conversion rate is determined when a patient qualifying for organ or tissue donation leads to a successful organ or tissue transplant. The process involves rigorous diagnostic testing, blood work and imaging to determine the health of the organ or tissue and whether the recipient’s body will accept it.
MSH works in partnership with TGLN to manage organ and tissue donations. TGLN gives hospitals a conversion rate target of 54 per cent as a goal.
MSH achieved a conversion rate of 67 per cent; roughly indicating that almost seven out of 10 organ and tissue donations led to successful transplants.
“Regardless of whether you registered (as an organ donor) or not, TGLN will come to the hospital to review if the candidate can become a donor,” Cesta explained about patients approaching neurological death or considering withdrawal from life-support.
TGLN and MSH review the patient and seek consent from the patient’s family for potential organ or tissue donation.
“If consent is given, MSH works with Trillium to get everything required,” Cesta explained. “There’s a magnitude of testing that occurs before consideration. Blood work, diagnostic imaging, we also maintain and sustain the patient for the purpose of donation.”
“If the organ is not functional, they won’t donate it,” she added.
The hospital’s operating room team assists the TGLN team in organ retrieval and the transplant operation.
MSH is one of 15 hospitals in Ontario to receive the award.
“We’re very proud of this award to be truthful,” Cesta said. “It demonstrates the work we’ve been doing to move donations forward. It does show that it is a full team approach.”