Jamaica Hospital ranks 3rd for organ donations

According to the New York Organ Donor Network, 15 out of the 261 organs donated in the NYC area in 2005 came from Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. This ranks JHMC third out of 104 other hospitals performing organ removal. JHMC ranked number one in the city in 2004 with 18 donors out of 262 deceased donation candidates.
About 58% of the families approached about organ donation in JHMC consented to the operation compared to the 48% that consent from the area hospitals as a whole. JHMC attributes their success rate their highly trained and qualified staff and to the response rate of Organ Donor Network personnel.
“We are grateful to the donors and their families who gave the gift of life in 2005,” said Mr. William Lynch, Vice President of Professional and Regulatory Affairs at Jamaica Hospital. “Jamaica Hospital is pleased that we could work with the staff of the New York Organ Donor Network to save lives through organ donation.”
According to the Organ Donor Network, 7,000 patients are still awaiting organ donations in the New York area. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and a tissue donor can touch dozens of lives. 684 transplants were performed last year alone but the waiting list continues to grow.
“Because of their continuing collaboration with us, the 684 organs transplanted benefited 627 desperately sick patients,” Linda Bowes, the New York Organ Donor Network’s director of hospital services said. “That’s the most lives saved in one year. In addition, more than 1,300 tissues were recovered from 622 donors. Those tissues will save and improve the lives of many, many people.”