Table of conTenTs

Message from the CEO

What’s New

Multicultural Outreach Program

Feature Story

Hospital Development

Did You Know

Upcoming Events

Message froM The ceo susan stuart, center for organ recovery & education ceo

We have a desperate need for organ donors in our minority communities. Although minorities make up more than half of the people on the national organ transplant list, they represent only about a quarter of registered donors.

That’s why it’s so important for us to celebrate National Minority Donor Awareness Week, which takes place August 1-7. We need to take this opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of donation among African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native American and Pacific Islander populations.

All of us who are committed to the cause of organ, tissue and cornea donation can take action by encouraging Pennsylvania state legislators to express their support for the Donate Life PA Act. Our lawmakers are considering legislation that is important to CORE’s key objectives to continue educating the public on the need for more organ and tissue donors – especially in minority communities. Ultimately, this legislation provides the necessary tools to help save more lives.

If it is made into a law, the Donate Life PA Act would provide a comprehensive framework for increasing organ, tissue and cornea donation and transplantation. The act creates a framework for the incorporation of best clinical practices and collaboration among healthcare partners.

It also enhances educational programs about organ donation for both secondary public schools and healthcare professionals. In addition, the legislation provides for enhanced collaboration with county medical examiners and coroners to ensure that donation options are available and implemented for all families consistently throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Please take a moment in celebration of National Minority Donor Awareness Week and call or e-mail your legislators. Ask them to make A Pledge for Life by supporting the Donate Life PA Act.

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

JulY 2013

You are invited to the heart Transplant support group Meeting!Saturday, August 24, 2013

Panera 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— t.meshanko@verizon.net, 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 thru discussion—the information shared is personal and should be kept private within the Support group.

sTaTisTics

National Waiting List: 118,610

CORE Waiting List: 2,532

• Every 10 minutes another name is added to the waiting 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 essential 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.

Trio PiTTsburgh chaPTer MeeTing

sePTeMber 22nd 1:30pm 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.

Time:1:30 pm - Support Group meeting to discuss your transplant concerns and

issues.2:30 pm - General Meeting to discuss Chapter events and

issues location: Monthly meetings

alternate locations.

UPMC Montefiore LHAS Auditorium, 7th Floor next to

main lobby or Allegheny General Hospital, Snyder Auditorium, 1st Floor,

South Tower

WhaT’s neW globally ranked crossfit athlete competes for his donors

Scott Panchik endured months of rigorous training for the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games’ World competition, which took place in California this July. The hard work paid off as he placed fourth overall at the games, making him the fourth most fittest man in the world. Scott placed second in the Regional games in Columbus, Ohio this June to qualify for the world championship games. Last year, Panchik went on to place fourth globally for the Central East region at the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games in Carson, Ca. As the world’s premier test to find the “Fittest on Earth,” the CrossFit Games are world-renowned as a grueling test for the world’s toughest athletes. Panchik, 25, knows that he is able to compete in the CrossFit Games because of the selfless generosity of the three people who elected to become organ, tissue and cornea donors. Their gifts allowed him to undergo a total of three surgeries to reconstruct both knees. The surgeries reversed injuries Panchik sustained while playing college football. Panchik has written letters to the families of his tissue donors. Some day, he hopes to connect with those families. A Pittsburgh-area native, Panchik has always been an athlete. He competed in football, wrestling and track and field in high school. He went on to attend the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio where he played for the Purple Raiders football program that has won 10 Division III national championships. Panchik is currently a teacher at Mentor High School, which is located east of Cleveland. He also serves as a football and wrestling coach for the school’s teams. Panchik’s mother, Lisa, has developed a deep appreciation for organ, tissue and cornea donation, because she has seen the difference it has made in her son’s life. In 2010, she began working as a quality coordinator at the Pittsburgh-based Center for Organ Recovery & Education, or CORE, an organ procurement organization serving Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of New York. It was Panchik’s father Dave, a certified CrossFit coach, who encouraged his son to try CrossFit as a way to stay in shape. Dad’s advice has certainly paid off. Panchik is about to become even more visible to fans and fitness fanatics alike. He was recently named a Reebok-sponsored athlete and will appear in the brand’s fall and winter 2013 ad campaigns.

MulTiculTural ouTreach PrograM celebraTe naTional MinoriTY donor aWareness WeeK

National Minority Donor Awareness Week, celebrated annually on August 1-8, is a nationwide observance to educate minorities of the desperate need for donation and transplantation within the multicultural community and how to designate their decision to Donate Life. Now in its 17th year, this special observance honors minorities who have been donors and encourages others to register as donors in order to reduce the number needing a transplant. Though minority communities make up only 36 percent of the U.S. population, African American, Latino and other minorities account for 56 percent of the patients on the organ transplant waiting list. For more information and resources, please visit the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation website. http://www.amat1.org/resources/

feaTure sTorY“faith’s hero ” by Julie Kilkeary, recipient Mother & faith Kilkeary, heart recipient

Faith Kilkeary was born on July 29, 2003 with a severe heart defect known as Hypoplastic left heart syndrome. If left untreated, this defect is always fatal. At two days old, Faith had the first of three open-heart surgeries, required to repair her, then, tiny broken heart. The second of these surgeries came when Faith was just 4 months old, leaving her healthy and happy, with just one surgery left until her little heart could sustain life. After months of normal life, full of love and laughter, Faith took an unexpected turn. The milestones that she met without difficulty began to

weaken until they eventually became unachievable. Faith was in heart failure and was no longer a candidate for the third and final surgery. Her only option was to be listed for a heart transplant. Faith received

her life saving gift on January 10, 2005. Today, Faith will soon be celebrating her 10th birthday and lives life to the fullest, as a typical healthy and happy young girl. Running, biking, swimming, hiking, tennis, dance, piano and church choir are just a few of the weekly activities that Faith enjoys. Recently, Faith was given a school assignment, where the students were asked to write a short story of their choice. The assignments ranged from fashion to superheroes. Faith too wrote about a hero, but this hero was much more amazing than Spiderman or the Hulk. This hero was her angel, her hope and her life.

Faith (Left) with Best Friend and Cousin, Grace

erie seaWolves organ donaTion aWareness nighT

Come out to the ballpark to show your support for

Organ Donation! Stick around after the game to enjoy the complimentary fireworks!

Friday August 16th7:05pm Game

Jerry Uht Park110 E 10th Street

Erie, PA 16501

Ticket Cost: $8

If you are interested in purchasing tickets please

contact colleen sullivan at 412-963-3550

living each daY To MaKe a difference

On July 23rd, Uniontown Volunteer Task Force Leader,

Eugene Wolbert ( heart recipient ) was recognized

for his dedication and commitment to supporting CORE’s Mission. Eugene’s efforts have truly impacted

the designation rate in Fayette County. Committed and

passionate, he continues to inspire and motivate families throughout Fayette County to make the Pledge for Life.

Eugene’s was presented with a beautiful framed certificate and silver keepsake box from UNOS - The United Network for Organ

Sharing.

hosPiTal develoPMenT

West virginia university hospital Physician dr gregory schaefer, do, facs Partnering with core on lung donor Management grant

Lungs play a critical role in our bodies every day, taking oxygen from inhaled air and helping to distribute it via the bloodstream to every cell. The reverse action of expelling our bodily wastes into the air during exhalation occurs just as frequently. For many of us, these routine breathing actions are often taken for granted. But, for those suffering from severe lung-related medical conditions, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), Cystic Fibrosis, or Pulmonary Hypertension, the act of breathing becomes a struggle. For patients with dysfunctional lungs, often a lung transplant is their only hope for long-term survival. Currently in the United States, there are over 118,000 people awaiting a life-saving organ transplant. Of these patients, there are approximately 1,682 awaiting a lung transplant. For many of these patients, the wait time for their lung transplant will be one to two years. Despite advances in donor management,

organ preservation, and immunomodulation, lungs remain one of the most challenging organs to successfully transplant. There is also a national shortage of suitable donor lungs for transplant.

Research and development in the area of lung donation and transplant is minimal at this time. The staff at CORE, in collaboration with Dr. Gregory Schaefer, DO, FACS, is hoping to change that. Dr. Schaefer is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Surgery, in the Division of Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery at West Virginia University Hospital, located in Morgantown, West Virginia. Dr. Schaefer has a professional interest in studying his trauma patient outcomes, and routinely partners with the Respiratory Therapy Department at West Virginia University Hospital to attempt to improve ventilator-related treatment strategies for his patients. He, and the respiratory therapy team, have found that utilizing an open lung ventilation strategy drastically improves overall oxygenation of a patient, which in turn makes each organ and tissue, including the lungs, healthier over time. He believes this strategy, when used on organ donors, would increase the number of organs able to be donated and transplanted, thus saving more lives.

CORE, along with Dr. Schaefer, have been awarded an Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) donor management research grant for their ideas, which will be used to fund a study on ways to change and improve the way all organ procurement organizations manage the ventilators and lung health of their organ donors. The overall goal of this research study is to prove that open lung ventilation strategies will increase the number of lungs accepted for transplant, as well as improve the outcomes for patients who receive a transplanted lung following these methods. This project will take more than just CORE and Dr. Schaefer to complete successfully. CORE has called upon hospitals across the service area to collaborate on this project and change the way that they too manage their organ donor patients.

A protocol to be followed on all participating donor cases has already been developed, through the collaboration of several medical and surgical critical care experts from throughout the region. The official research grant work will begin with training sessions held for Organ Procurement Coordinators (OPCs) in concert with Physicians, Nurses, and Respiratory Therapists from the participating institutions. These training sessions will be utilized to teach the techniques and protocols to be used throughout this study.

neW volunTeer orienTaTion

Thursday, august 22nd, 2013

10am - 2pm6pm - 9pm

Become educated about the organ donation process and will

receive the tools necessary to become a successful volunteers.

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.

TeaM PiTTsburgh The Mulligan

CORE Volunteers Audrey Newcamp and Kim Krebs

Lynda Staylor and Jim Uhrig

Rich and Cassandra Edwards

did You KnoW don’t rain on My Parade! altoona Task force hosts “core” float

Altoona Volunteer Task Force hosted the first CORE “A Pledge for Life” Float in the Annual Martinsburg Parade. Also known as the world’s largest small town parade! Days prior to the event local residents began lining up their chairs curbside in anticipation of the big day! The pouring down rain did not stop task force members (LLoy and Betty Blattenberger and Becky and Jerry Bechtel)

who decorated the float to remind local residents of the importance of becoming a registered organ donor. Beautiful flowers adorned the float as recipients and donor families waved to on-looking spectators. Donor mom, Betsy Chilcote proudly held a photograph of her daughter, Jessica Ann Chilcote, who was a donor in 2003. Shortly after the parade began the sun peaked through the clouds and a beautiful rainbow appeared. A beautiful ending to a beautiful day!

Millcreek 4th of July Parade - core Won best Walking group

For the second consecutive year, CORE has entered a float into the Millcreek 4th of July Parade in Erie, PA. This years float theme was “It Only Takes 00:30 to Save a Life”, which is the current Donate Life PA campaign. The CORE Volunteers, friends, and family members worked together to create the astonishing float to make the community aware of how simple it is to save a life. A special thanks goes out to the event lead, Colleen Grimm, Volunteer and Recipient Mother, who put in countless hours to make this years float a success! Every year the floats are judged and scored in various categories. This year the CORE float won for the Best Walking Group!

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

109Penn Commercial Nursing Student

Education

8 76noble conference - david lawrence

convention center

5 shadyside

orientation / noble conference -

david lawrence

4altoona curve game/ noble conference -

david lawrence

3noble conference - david lawrence

convention center

2noble conference - david lawrence

convention center

1

11

20AGH Nursing

Ground Rounds

19shadyside

orientation

18

16Wetzel county fair

17Wetzel county fair / scott alexander Memorial soccer game - shaler

13Wetzel county fair

12shadyside

orientation

14Physician

Orientation /Wetzel county fair

15Wetzel county fair

2928New Employee

Orientation

2726shadyside

orientation

25

24Massaro

information Table

2322 APTI Wellness Fair / New Volunteer

Orientation / West Allegheny School

21

augusT

30 31

sign uP To becoMe a donor

www.donatelife-pa.org

www.donatelifewv.org

caMc organ donaTion aWareness luncheon

Alice Jones, RN CAMC Renal Transplant Coordinator, Nefeterius McPherson Liver Recipient, Holly Mitchell, CORE PSL, Sande Egnor,

RN CAMC General NSICU and MICU Unit Manager, Teresa Hill, RN CAMC Trauma Quality Specialist and Becky

Shrader, RN CORE OPC

Nefeterius McPherson, Liver Recipient with her donor’s Aunt

Sherry Thomas

Stephanie Brumfield RD, Teresa Baggette, Barbara Eldridge MA,

Robert Jeffries RN, Lorie Lipscomb FNP, Susan Hanna RN, Nefeterius

McPherson, Alice Jones RN, Dr. Sankari, Jennifer Bragg MSW