Jamaica Hospital honored for organ donor rates

Thanks to the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (JHMC), fewer people are dying while on waiting lists hoping for life-saving organ donations.
Recently, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services honored the hospital for its high donation rate. The JHMC received the Medal of Honor for having at least 75 percent of patients who signed up to be donors follow through and donate their organs when they die.
JHMC was one of 14 hospitals in the region to receive the award and one of 392 nationally to be recognized.
“I think everyone was pretty proud,” JHMC Vice President for Professional and Regulatory Affairs, William Lynch, said.
He admitted that the award was bittersweet for the hospital because to get a donor means someone had to die.
“It terrible to lose a loved one,” Lynch said. “But, we try to make something positive from it.”
Lynch said the hospital staff understands how critical it is to have donors and they strive to get people and their families to donate organs when they die.
JHMC Public Affairs Coordinator Natifia Gaines said the award meant a great deal to the hospital staff because of the good that can come from one donor.
“You’re saving a life,” Gaines said. “Which affects the community, really it affects everything.”
Last year there were 319 donors in the region - up from 199 in 2001 - but over 7,000 people are on organ waiting lists in the New York area, according to the New York Organ Donor Network.
“It’s in our hands to save lives,” New York Organ Donor Network President Elaine Berg said.
Berg said the area has seen the number of donors increase in the last five years because more people are learning about organ donations. She added organ transplants have only been part of medicine for the past half-century.
“The ultimate goal, we feel, is there shouldn’t be anyone on the waiting list,” Lynch said. “If we take a person off the waiting list it’s a good thing.”