|
 Saving Sight, a nonprofit organization that helps
provide corneas for more than 3,000 patients in need of transplants
each year, presented the nonprofit hospital with its Excellence in
Eye Donation award on April 28.
Last year, Memorial Medical Center staff helped to facilitate 84 eye
donations, which resulted in 101 individuals receiving restored
sight through a cornea transplant. Overall, the hospital achieved a
68-percent consent rate for eye donations.
“These great results would not be possible without the diligent and
compassionate work of Memorial’s dedicated staff, who go above and
beyond to work with our patients and their families to discuss their
wishes and ensure they are met,” said Charles Callahan, executive
vice president and chief operating officer of Memorial Health
System.
To earn the award, hospitals in Saving Sight’s
service area of Missouri, Kansas and Illinois must have had at least
10 donors in 2016 and exceeded a consent rate of 45 percent. Less
than 15 percent of Saving Sight’s partner hospitals will receive the
award this year.
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“We are grateful to our partners at Memorial Medical Center who
believe in our mission to change lives by saving sight and work with our
courageous donors and donor families to make the precious gift of sight possible
for countless individuals last year,” said Tony Bavuso, Saving Sight’s CEO.
Each year, approximately 48,000 people in the United States need a cornea
transplant to restore vision lost to disease, disorder or injury.
[Michael Leathers, Memorial Health
Systems] |
