Four area hospitals received top recognition by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for efforts to boost organ donations, the federal agency announced last week, as part of a nationwide campaign.
The department granted North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset a platinum designation due to its work in the Hospital Organ Donation Campaign, which aimed to increase the number of organ, eye and tissue donors in New York state.
“Improving access to transplant services for Long Islanders also requires us to increase the number of donors in the New York area,” Lewis Teperman, the vice chair of surgery at North Shore University Hospital and director of organ transplantation at Northwell Health, said in a statement.
“We’re honored by this recognition by HHS and LiveOnNY, and more importantly, pleased that we’ve been able to offer the gift of life to additional patients in our service area by expanding the number of willing donors,” he added.
Additionally LiveOnNY, a nonprofit seeking to boost organ donations, highlighted North Shore University Hospital staff members who helped encourage donors.
“In 2017, hospital staff facilitated donation for nine of Northwell Health System’s 34 organ donors and 14 of the system’s 92 tissue donors,” said Helen Irving, the president and CEO of LiveOnNY. “The hospital plays an important role in saving lives and bringing hope to the 10,000 New Yorkers currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant.”
The designation follows doctors at the Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital at the North Shore University Medical Center completing the first heart transplant surgery on Long Island. At the time, Northwell Health also began an organ donor registration campaign.
NYU Winthrop, located in Mineola and not part of the Northwell Health system, and Cohen Children’s Medical Center and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, both in New Hyde Park and both affiliated with Northwell Health, got gold recognition.
“NYU Winthrop is proud to achieve the Gold benchmark and be recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services for our efforts,” said Marianne McQuillan, the vice president of regulatory affairs and administration at NYU Winthrop Hospital. “Without question, the 2018 Hospital Organ Donation Campaign has honored the wishes of many and given even more patients a chance at the greatest gift there is – the gift of life.”
Ten Northwell facilities were recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and LiveOnNY for work in organ donations in the platinum or gold tiers.
Among them were platinum designees Huntington Hospital, Northern Westchester Hospital, Staten Island University’s northern campus, and Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, and gold recipients LIJ Forest Hills, Southside Hospital and Staten Island University’s southern campus.
Additionally, in the New York University System, NYU Langone and NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn received platinum designations.
In New York, 28 hospitals received platinum designations and 15 got gold, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Nationwide, more than 1,200 facilities participated and about 24,000 new donors were added.
About 114,000 people await organ transplants nationwide, according to the Department of Health and Human Service’s Division of Transplantation, with nearly 10 percent of them being in New York.
