Mat-Su Regional honored for work with organ donations

PALMER — Mat-Su Regional Medical Center was honored with two awards for exceptional work and collaboration in organ and tissue donations by LifeCenter Northwest, Sept. 8.

The hospital earned the “Collaboration Achievement Award” and the “Donation Achievement Award” for furthering organ and tissue donations from the State of Alaska in 2019.

LifeCenter Northwest (LCNW) is an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) based out of Washington and Montana that works with more than 200 partner hospitals throughout Alaska, Montana, North Idaho and Washington to facilitate donation opportunities and support donor families.

“Across Alaska, we have a few hospitals now and then that share these awards, but I would say Mat-Su has consistently been there to facilitate this process in supporting families,” said Ashley Ring, Hospital Development Program Manager and spokesperson for LifeCenter.

One donor can save the lives of up to eight people through organ donation, and help upwards of 100 more through tissue and cornea donation, but the criteria to be an organ donor is very rare. A person must be on a ventilator and either diagnosed brain dead or face a grave prognosis where a meaningful recovery is not viable. In the latter cases, a patient is removed from the ventilator and [then] donation can occur after cardiac death.

If a patient meets these requirements, they are referred to an organ procurement organization by hospital staff who are trained to recognize a possible candidate for organ donation.

In 2019, Mat-Su Regional had three potential organ donors. All three became actual donors. In 2020, the hospital has been involved in the donation of ten organs, including the first heart donation at the hospital.

LifeCenter representatives emphasized the importance of teamwork between a hospital and the OPO in working with an organ donor’s loved ones and making the process timely.

“There’s so many working pieces and I’m continuously just impressed at how effective staff is at communicating both urgency and relative clinical information,” Barrett Campbell, RN, Organ Recovery Coordinator from LCNW said.

Once a person is declared a potential donor, a team of nurses and staff fly to the location to run blood tests and find organ recipients as well as surgical teams to recover each donation upon the day of surgery. When the organs are removed, they are rushed by ambulance to the airport then flown to transplant centers across the nation. It is an intense around-the-clock process for the entire team as they work to ensure that the donated organs are safely delivered to those who are awaiting them.

Before a donor is taken into surgery, their bed is wheeled from the Intensive Care Unit to the Operating Room in a respectful ceremony called the Hero Walk or Honor Walk.

During this acknowledgement, it is common for loved ones, friends and hospital employees to line the halls and pay their respects to the patient as they pass by. In 2019, more than 300 people attended the Hero Walk for Staff Sgt. Chris Enns who had suffered an idiopathic cardiac arrhythmia, otherwise known as a spontaneous irregular heartbeat. After the family says their parting words, the donor is taken into surgery where multiple teams are waiting to operate.

“The Honor Walk is a powerful testament to the sanctity of life that acknowledges the sacrifice a family makes to help other families as they simultaneously say goodbye to their own loved one. It is an emotional, remarkable expression of love and generosity,” said Alan Craft, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the hospital.

Four to six weeks after the operation, the donor’s family will receive a letter in the mail containing the basic information from the organ recipients such as age, gender and a recovery update. At that point both parties may choose to meet – an occasion that can create a life-long bond.

For those who work at the hospital, a Hero Walk is unforgettable, even for staff who do not work in direct patient care.

“Being able to observe and participate in these incredible moments of sacrifice has been life-changing for every person at our facility,” Dave Wallace, CEO of Mat-Su Regional said.

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center is a 125-bed healthcare facility providing advanced surgical service, including robotic-assisted partial and total knee and total hip replacement, cardiac care, emergency services, diagnostic imaging, sleep studies, inpatient behavioral health, advanced wound care, three urgent care centers, the Family Birthing Center and is home to the 30-Minutes-or-Less ER Service Pledge.

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center was recently honored with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines — Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award and is accredited as a Chest Pain Center by the American College of Cardiology, as an Acute Stroke Ready Hospital by The Joint Commission. In 2019, Mat-Su Regional received the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association’s patient safety award, “High Reliability: Persevering in the Pursuit of Zero Patient Harm.”

To learn more about Mat-Su Regional, go to MatSuRegional.com.