For Immediate Release
October 29, 2007
Contact: John Shaffer
732-776-4166
jshaffer@meridianhealth.com

JERSEY SHORE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER AWARDED NATIONAL MEDAL FOR ORGAN DONATION PROGRAM

Organ Donation Program Leads All New Jersey Hospitals

Neptune, NJ - Health professionals who save the lives of patients under their care possess tremendous amounts of skill and knowledge. For those that save the lives of patients whom they will never actually meet, different skills may be needed, as well as unlimited compassion.

On a routine basis, a group of employees throughout Jersey Shore University Medical Center display those skills and compassion, as they work with family members of a dying patient on the difficult decisions surrounding organ donation. These employees represent the trauma, emergency, critical care, and operating departments, as well as case management, social services and pastoral care.

"It takes special people to approach a patient's family with the prospect of donating their loved one's organs," says Patrick Buddle, M.D., Jersey Shore's physician champion for organ donation. A living organ donor himself, Dr. Buddle brings real-life perspective. "Once the family makes the decision, however, an enormous sense of relief usually comes over them. They gain tremendous peace of mind and pride knowing that although a family member may pass away, he or she will continue to exist in the lives of the organ recipients."

To date in 2007, the families of 14 out of 15 eligible patients (93%) approached by Jersey Shore staff have consented to organ donation. Jersey Shore not only leads all state hospitals in both the total number of consents and the consent rate, it also ranks among the best hospital programs in the nation. The organs recovered from these 14 patients have benefited 52 other patients, nearly all of whom are from New Jersey. In addition to organ donation, there have been 19 tissue (such as skin, bone, cornea) donors. Each tissue donor may benefit between 60 and 70 other patients.

In one recent five-week stretch, Jersey Shore recovered organs from 11 patients, ranging in age from 5 months to 20 years old. Several of these were trauma victims.

"Only around 1% of all patients meet criteria to become an organ donor," says Dr. Buddle. "When we identify an eligible patient, we help the family understand all the issues in order to make an informed consent. I've never seen a family regret consenting. On the other hand, many people who did not provide consent end up regretting their decision. The choice is to give life, not end it."

Jersey Shore recently received a Medal of Honor for Organ Donation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The award represented consent rates from more than 75% of eligible organ donors for a sustained 12-month period. Jersey Shore is one of only six New Jersey hospitals to receive this award. The overall organ donation rate in New Jersey in 2006 was 62%.

The award stems from the federal Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative, which was created in 2003. The purpose was to better engage hospital leaders and donation professionals to quickly identify, learn, adapt, replicate and embrace "breakthrough" practices. At the time Jersey Shore had less than a 33% consent rate. Over the last four years, the hospital has nearly tripled its consent rate.

"Jersey Shore is a model for the principles of the Organ Donation and Transplantation Breakthrough Collaborative," says Joseph Roth, president and CEO, NJ Sharing Network. "With strong leadership from CEO Steve Littleson on down, the hospital staff is entirely dedicated to making the system work to save more lives through organ donation. The NJ Sharing Network is extremely proud of its affiliation with JSUMC."

Nationally, averages of 100,000 people remain on waiting lists to receive an organ. The Sharing Network notes that more than 4,000 of them are New Jerseyans.

Jersey Shore University Medical Center, a member of the Meridian Health family, is a not-for-profit university teaching and home to the K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital ? the first children's hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Jersey Shore is the regional provider of cardiac surgery, a program which has been ranked among the best in the Northeast, and is home to the only trauma center and nationally-designated stroke center in the region. Jersey Shore University Medical Center specializes in cardiac care and surgery, orthopedics and rehabilitation, cancer care, and advanced women's and children's health services. For more information on Meridian?s advanced cardiac services or a referral to a Meridian cardiologist, please call 1-800-560-9990 or visit www.meridianhealth.com.

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