Aspirus St. Luke's & Lake View Recognized Nationally for Promoting Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation

St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth and Lake View Hospital in Two Harbors were among a select group of hospitals nationally recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries. The hospitals earned the recognition through a campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The campaign has added 400,000 donor enrollments to state registries nationwide since 2011.

In 2015 and 2016, St. Luke’s cared for five organ donors saving 13 lives, and two tissue donors with the potential to impact up to 120 people over the next five years. St. Luke’s conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors and community members about the critical need for organ, eye and tissue donors and, by doing so, increased the number of potential donors in the state’s donor registry.

St. Luke’s earned points for each activity implemented between May 2015 and April 2016 and was awarded platinum recognition through the HRSA Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign. Lake View Hospital received bronze recognition. Of the 995 hospitals and transplant centers participating in the campaign, 281 were awarded platinum recognition and 207 were awarded bronze recognition during this phase of the campaign.

“Saving lives is at the heart of what we do here at St. Luke’s, and this recognition reflects that,” said Barb Boettcher, RN, chair of St. Luke’s organ tissue and eye donation committee. “But there’s still a need for organ donation in our community so we’re proud to be a part of a campaign that encourages others to give such an amazing gift.”

This campaign is a special effort of HRSA’s Workplace Partnership for Life to mobilize the nation’s hospitals to increase the number of people in the country who are registered organ, eye and tissue donors and ultimately, the number of organs available for transplant. The campaign unites donation advocates at hospitals with representatives from their local organ procurement organizations, Donate Life America affiliates, and state and regional hospital associations. Working together, the teams leverage their communications resources and outreach efforts to most effectively spread word of the critical need for donors.

St. Luke’s partnered with LifeSource, an organ procurement organization providing services since 1989, and Minnesota Lions Eye Bank on the campaign.