Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Message from the CEO
What’s New
Feature Story
Did You Know
Eye Bank
Multicultural Outreach Program
Hospital Development
Upcoming Events
A Donate Life Organization
MISSION
The Center for Organ
Recovery & Education
(CORE) is a non-profit
organization dedicated
to promoting donation,
education, and research
for the purpose of
saving and improving
the quality of life
through organ,
tissue, and cornea
transplantation.
CONNECTIONSA PLEDGE FOR LIFE
OCTOBER 2013
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Susan Stuart, Center for Organ Recovery & Education CEO
At the Center for Organ Recovery & Education, we feel the power of organ donation every day – in our daily work routine, in our interactions with healthcare professionals and colleagues, and in our opportunities to meet both transplant recipients and donor families.
A Special Place ensures that the community at large feels that same power, because it is a ceremony dedicated to the memory of the men, women, girls and boys who have given the ultimate gift by becoming an organ donor.
For years, our ceremony in Pittsburgh has attracted hundreds of families from throughout our service area to say one final goodbye to
their loved ones. For only the second year in a row, we supplemented our Pittsburgh service with A Special Place in West Virginia to honor donors and donor families.
At the event in Charleston earlier this month, our hearts were touched by compelling stories of people young and old who saw beyond their own journey in life and chose perhaps the most impactful way to ensure someone else’s journey could continue. The gathering attracted hundreds who heard from Lisa Johnson, a donor mom who honored the legacy of her daughter, Jasmine Nicole. Liver transplant recipient Kassidy Williams and her mother Anatlia Williams shared their story of how organ donation had changed the course of Kassidy’s life. These people are the true faces of organ donation.
At CORE, our ongoing mission is to ensure that everyone in our region understands what these people have experienced.
WHAT’S NEW Organ Donation Advocates Launch Coalition to Push for Life-Saving Legislation
A statewide coalition of advocates for organ donation kicked-off the Save a Life Now PA Campaign this month on behalf of more than 8,400 fellow Pennsylvanians waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
The Save a Life Now PA Campaign includes donor families, people awaiting organs and their families, medical professionals, and others concerned about the state’s organ donation waiting list, now at an all-time high. The coalition is working to secure passage of House Bill 30 and Senate Bill 850 - The Donate Life PA Act, which will save lives by increasing organ donation.
The legislation would ensure that more life-saving organs are donated, while protecting the rights of donors and their families and strengthening oversight of the organ donation process.
As part of this campaign, Save a Life Now PA has launched a website, http://www.savealifenowpa.org, where Pennsylvanian’s concerned about this vital health issue can learn more and take action.
STATISTICSNational Waiting List: 120,211
CORE Waiting List: 2,570
• Every 10 minutes another name is added to the wait-ing list.
• On average, 18 people will pass each day waiting for their life saving transplant.
• 90% of Americans say they support donation, yet only 30% actually know the es-sential steps to take to be a donor.
• One organ and tissue donor can save 8 lives and enhance the lives of more than 50 individuals.
FEATURE STORY CORE Celebrates Grand Opening of Brian A. Broznick Pavilion
CORE marked the grand opening of its newly constructed Brian A. Broznick Pavilion at its Pittsburgh offices during a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception on Thursday, September 12.
Named for CORE’s former president and CEO, the Brian A. Broznick Pavilion was built to provide improved care and support to CORE’s donors, donor families and hospital partners throughout the donation process. A pioneer in organ donation, Broznick was a committed leader whose guidance enabled CORE and its transplant hospitals to provide more than 300,000 patients with organ and tissue transplants.
The Pavilion will enable CORE to provide the gift of organ and tissue transplantation to someone in desperate need while improving satisfaction for our key partners and improving responsiveness to our donor families. It demonstrates CORE’s commitment to donor families and funeral homes by ensuring a more timely process, working more efficiently with our health care partners, improving satisfaction with our key partners and the CORE team, and continuous quality improvement through our research center.
With larger and more efficient facilities and processes, CORE is able to bring the message of organ, tissue and cornea donation to more and more people and help patients get the life-changing transplants they need.
CORE’s internal growth and the extension of the organization’s network through strategic partnerships will serve to secure the future of donation and transplantation in the region. The new facility is a reminder of Brian’s legacy and his commitment to serving the needs of donor families, honoring the donors and improving the lives of transplant recipients.
An expansion of CORE’s current offices, the 25,000-square-foot facility includes two fully functional operating rooms. Invited guests attended a reception and were able to take a tour of the new building, which also includes two intensive care units, an expanded call center, a research center used in conjunction with corporate and hospital partners, a bereavement center for donor families, an auditorium with a capacity for 150 and a green roof complete with a flower garden. A glass-enclosed atrium connects the new structure to the original building.
Brian A. Broznick
Matthew, Bill & Alberta Broznick (left) join President and CEO Susan Stuart (center right) and Marlane &
Kenneth Hartman (far right)
Family member Bill Broznick, President and CEO Susan Stuart, and Board
Chairman Michael Howard
CORE SPREADS THE WORD AT THE 2013 PITTSBURGH GREAT RACE EXPO
The 2013 Pittsburgh Great Race Expo took place on Friday, September 27-28th at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. CORE Staff and volunteers were on site to provide educational information about the importance of registering to become an organ
donor.
Volunteer Toni Linder spoke to the race participants about how organ donation has touched her life and shared just how deeply grateful she is to her donor and donor family for providing her with a second chance at life. She encourages everyone she meets to make the Pledge for Life by signing up to become a registered organ donor. Toni is also a member of the CORE Pittsburgh Volunteer
Task Force.
DID YOU KNOW The Donate Life Dedication Garden
DEDICATE A ROSEA rose is a symbol of love, loss and renewal. It represents something different to every family; to some it is a symbol of hope, to others it is an expression of grief, and to still others it is an offering of gratitude.
The Donate Life Dedication Garden offers all people touched by organ and tissue donation the opportunity to honor loved ones by dedicating a rose tagged with a personal message and placed in the Dedication Garden on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?People Touched by Donation:Any family or individual who has been touched by organ and
tissue donation and transplantation can dedicate a rose on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float to bear the name of someone who has given, received, awaits, or died while waiting for the gift of life.
Donation Partners:The program for donation partners is designed to offer hospitals, transplant centers, organ and tissue recovery organizations, coroners, funeral homes and dialysis centers the opportunity to honor donor families, recipients and candidates for transplant.
DEDICATIONSYour Dedication of a Rose Includes:• A rose with the name of your loved one or honoree placed on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float• Your personalized dedication posted on the float website• Thank you card acknowledging your dedication • A personalized digital certificate emailed to you• Opportunity to personally place your dedicated rose on the float in Pasadena on December 29
(Online order includes feature to make your appointment)• Your $30 charitable contribution directly supports Donate Life’s inspiring Rose Parade float entry
To dedicate your Donate Life Rose, you may choose from two options:• Order online at http://www.donatelifefloat.org/prod/components/dedication_garden/• Download the order form (PDF format) at http://www.donatelifefloat.org/prod/components/docs/
RP68_2014DonateLifeDedicationGarden_082913.pdf
All dedications received by December 1st will be mailed out by Christmas. Dedications received after December 1st but before December 23rd will be placed on the Donate Life float, but acknowledgements will be mailed out after January 1st.
You are Invited to the Heart Transplant Support Group Meeting!
Saturday, October 26, 2013Panera Bread - 3401 Blvd of Allies- Pittsburgh, PA 15213
(Oakland area--across from UPMC Magee Hospital on the corner of Halket St and Blvd of Allies)
In the meeting room at 12:00 to 1:30pm
The meeting will be open discussion—bring your personal victories to share, your concerns, and your questions. If you can attend please RSVP to Tom Meshanko— [email protected], so we can arrange the meeting room. Also on Facebook at: Heart Transplant Support Group. If you are interested in joining this group on Facebook, please contact Tom Meshanko.
Heart Transplant Support Group goal is to provide support to Pre-Transplant and Post-Transplant individuals in the physical and emotional areas through discussion—the information shared is personal and should be kept private within the support group.
CORE VOLUNTTER TASK FORCES - MAKING AN IMPACT IN THEIR COMMUNITY!
Have you ever considered getting involved with a CORE volunteer task force? CORE Volunteers from all over Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia now have the opportunity to make an impact in
their communities.
By getting involved with one of CORE’s volunteer task forces you can join forces with other recipients and donor families in your local area to help raise awareness and provide education about organ and tissue donation. Task forces meet monthly in the following areas: Pittsburgh, Butler, Uniontown, Washington, Johnstown, Altoona and Erie in PA and Charleston, Clarksburg and
Wheeling in WV.
For further information on how to get involved or develop a task force in PA, please e-mail Lynda Staylor at [email protected] and in WV, please e-mail Christy Conley
Together Let’s Make a Difference!!!
NEW VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION & TRAINING CLASS
Wednesday, December 11, 20136pm - 9pm
Volunteers will become educated about the organ donation process and will receive the tools necessary to become successful volunteers. Current volunteers are also invited to take part in this three hour session, which will occur on a bi-monthly basis. In addition, we will be inviting some of our seasoned volunteers to come and speak to our groups to share their personal
experiences with CORE.
To RSVP for the orientation or for those interested in speaking at one of our New Volunteer Orientations,
please contact Lynda Staylor at 412-963-3550.
HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT Hospital Development Goes for Gold with Hospital Partners
The Hospital & Health system Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Center for Organ Recovery & Education to support the 2013 Pennsylvania Donate Life Hospital Challenge in our designated service area. From April 1 to August 31, 2013, participants held activities to increase donation awareness and donor designations within their hospitals. A scoring system was utilized to achieve gold, silver, and bronze level point totals on the scorecards.
Hospital Partners and CORE liaisons planned events and tallied the scores. The activities at these hospitals were widely diverse and included designation tables in high traffic areas, emails from CEO’s to Staff members, posting campaign materials in elevators and cafeterias, flag raising ceremonies, lunch and learns, community events and many others. Meadville Medical Center had the highest total points achieved by any hospital in the CORE service area and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh UPMC had the widest variety of activities on the scorecard.
The following hospitals and health systems are being recognized in the CORE service area:
GOLD:• Allegheny General Hospital • UPMC Hamot• Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh UPMC • UPMC Mercy Hospital• Conemaugh Health System • UPMC Presbyterian Hospital• Meadville Medical Center
SILVER:• Magee Women’s Hospital of UPMC • UPMC Altoona• Robert Packer Hospital • UPMC Passavant
BRONZE:• Forbes Regional Hospital
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health, Michael Wolf, recognized the winners at the HAP CEO Forum on Friday, October 11, in Bedford. CORE Hospital Liaisons will also be contacting these facilities and arranging events to recognize the outstanding hospital accomplishments on site at their facilities throughout the fall.
WESTERN PA KIDNEY SUPPORT GROUP
The Western PA Kidney Support Group, a non-profit organization which has 10 locations and over 450 members all over Western PA, is looking to open 3 new locations: Altoona, Indiana and Erie. We need leaders in these areas. To qualify, one must have had a kidney or pancreas transplant, been on dialysis, and be willing to run a support group in the areas we want to open. Meetings would be held either once a month or every other month. Our groups are open to all Renal Patients and all people who are waiting for a transplant or who have had a
transplant.
Please contact Jack Silverstein at either 412-427-2969 or
www.wpakidneysupport.org
WV GOVERNOR’S AWARD FOR LIFE 2013
CORE recognized 24 West Virginia-based hospitals with the West Virginia Governor’s Award for Life 2013. The awards ceremony took place during the West Virginia Hospital Association’s annual meeting on September 26. The award recognizes area hospitals that have been successful in supporting organ, tissue and cornea donation within their own health care facilities, and have achieved increased donation rates as a
result.
EYE BANK Multi-Million Dollar Impact of Corneal Transplants
Corneal transplants performed in the United States this year will result in nearly $6 billion in total net benefits over the lifetime of the recipients, according to a six-month study undertaken by the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA). CORE has been an EBAA member since 1997 and will provide over 900 corneas for transplant this year, with an estimated lifetime value of $43,105,884.
The study compared the medical cost of transplant procedures to the direct and indirect lifetime costs of the alternative – living with blindness or severe vision impairment. With a corneal transplant, an individual avoids the direct expenditures that come with vision loss, such as higher routine medical costs and long-term care costs, and the indirect costs of potential years of lost productivity to both the patients and their family caregivers.
Eye disorders are the fifth costliest to the U.S. economy after heart disease, cancer, emotional disorders and pulmonary conditions.
“We honor our donors and donor families for providing the gift of sight to so many individuals who have lost their vision,” said Susan Stuart, president and CEO of CORE. “It is through our values of integrity and compassion that CORE is able to bridge the gap between donor families and corneal recipients.”
The EBAA commissioned this study to determine the economic impact of corneal transplants. Researchers used previous years’ transplant numbers and census data to estimate total corneal transplants for the full 2013 calendar year.
Since CORE’s founding in 1997, more than 13,000 men, women and children have received corneal transplants to restore vision and relieve pain from injury and disease to the eye. With a success rate greater than 95 percent, the one-hour procedure restores the patient’s sight and his or her quality of life. In fact, it is one of the most common and least invasive transplant procedures. The EBAA study proves the value of the procedure and the economic benefit to the patient, family and society.
Corneal transplants also translate to direct federal and state government savings. This study assumed full retirement at age 65, so the net indirect cost savings is small for these patients, but the per-capita lifetime net medical benefits of $67,500 for patients age 65 or greater receiving corneal transplants in 2013 will save Medicare, Medicaid and patients a combined $2.4 billion nationally, and $18,434,818 in the states served by CORE.
For a full copy of the report, please contact EBAA at [email protected].
Alexis Cathie, cornealtransplant recipient
MULTICULTURAL OUTREACH PROGRAM The Erie Multicultural Task Force In Action
The Erie, PA Multicultural Task Force recently attended the 3rd Annual Eastside Reunion held in Roger Young Park next to Bobby Harrison Field in Erie where they shared organ donation awareness materials. The event was held on Saturday, September 14th to reunite the residents of Erie’s eastside neighborhoods. The event drew hundreds of residents most of whom grew up on the eastside or spent a lot of time there throughout the years. The Task Force worked with the Eastside Reunion Committee and its sponsors to present this vital information to the minority community. Members of the Task Force met several individuals who had already donated organs and are willing to be utilized in future Task Force endeavors.
Task Force members (center)Derek & Charmalene Ulmer
THE ASSOCIATION FOR MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN TRANSPLANTATION (AMAT)
CORE participated in The Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) annual conference this September. The conference provides healthcare professionals with an opportunity to hear from leaders within the field of organ and tissue donation and transplantation as well as the healthcare industry at large with a focus on the multicultural perspective. The Membership Committee Co-Chairs are Vanessa Duvert (GOL Philadelphia) and Lisa Upsher (CORE). It’s great to report a 10% increase of AMAT individual and organizational memberships was accomplished for this year.
(left to right) Vanessa Duvert, Lisa Upsher, Kaysha Cranon,
Mel Bearns, Sabrina Ho, Freddy Medina, Kelvin Satchel, Maria
Veve, Elena De La Cruz
Events in BOLD need coverage. For more information please call or email: Christy Conely or Marla D’Andries at (412) 963-3550
UPCOMING EVENTS
SUN THURSWEDTUESMON FRI SAT
22 23New Volunteer
Training
2NOV 1Center for Emergency Medicine
Paramedic Training
31302928 Shadyside
Orientation
27
26Hollidaysburg
Halloween Parade
2524
3
1211Shadyside
Orientation
10National Donor
Sabbath Weekend
8National
Donor Sabbath Weekend
9National Donor
Sabbath Weekend
5WVU Health Fair
4Shadyside
Orientation
StepAfrikaInstitute, WV
6Laurel Business Institute Health
Fair Uniontown,PA
7CORE ACR Training
Summit - Donor Family Speaker
Needed
2120New Employee
Orientation
1918Shadyside
Orientation
17
161514 13Physician
Orientation - Donor Family Speaker
Needed
OCTOBER
22 23
21Shadyside
Orientation
20
SIGN UP TO BECOME A DONOR
www.donatelife-pa.org
www.donatelifewv.org
MULTICULTURAL OUTREACH PROGRAM Stepping into National Donor Sabbath
We’re trying a non-conventional approach to touch the hearts of many while preparing for National Donor Sabbath.
The CORE West Virginia Multicultural Task Force, Appalachian POWER, West Virginia State University and the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Health Affairs proudly present “Step Afrika” on
November 4, 2013. The event will be held at the WVSU campus, Ferrell Hall starting at 7:00pm. The goal is West Virginia statewide organ donation outreach and education to the faith based communities, high schools, colleges & universities. On the following day, CORE and Step Afrika will share dance instruction and education with area high schools and dance studios.
What Makes Step Afrika! The Company blends percussive dance styles practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities, African traditional dance and influences from a variety of other dance and art forms. Performances are much more than dance shows; they integrate songs, storytelling, humor, and audience participation. The blend of technique, agility, and pure energy makes each performance unique and leaves the audience with their hearts pounding.Step Afrika! promotes stepping as an educational tool for young people, focusing on teamwork, academic achievement and cross-cultural understanding. It reaches tens of thousands of Americans each year through a 50-city tour of colleges and theatres and performs globally as a cultural ambassador. http://youtu.be/eHWE6UnUsWI
Monday, November 4, 20137:00 PM
Admission: $10.00
West Virginia State University CampusFerrell Hall Auditorium, 2nd Floor
5000 Fairlawn Avenue • Institute, WV 25112
www.core.org
Proudly Present
TRIO PITTSBURGH CHAPTER MEETING
NOVEMBER 16th 10:00am at AGH
The TRIO-Pittsburgh Chapter has its monthly meetings to discuss chapter issues as well as support meeting so that you may discuss your transplant concerns and issues. Guest speakers will be announced accordingly. Meetings will be the 3rd Sunday of every month.
Location: Allegheny General Hospital
McGovern AuditoriumSouth Tower
320 E. North Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Monday, November 4, 20137:00 PM
Admission: $10.00
West Virginia State University Campus
Ferrell Hall Auditorium, 2nd Floor5000 Fairlawn Avenue
Institute, WV 25112
