UK HealthCare

UK HealthCare Earns National Recognition for Promoting Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug 31, 2020) UK HealthCare has earned national recognition for its efforts to increase organ, eye and tissue donor registrations across the state through the Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) Hospital Organ Donation Campaign. The WPFL is a national initiative that unites the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the organ donation community with workplaces across the nation in spreading the word about the importance of donation.

The WPFL Hospital Organ Donation Campaign challenges hospitals and health care organizations to “let life bloom” by educating their staff, patients, visitors and communities about the critical need for organ, eye and tissue donation, including offering opportunities to register as organ donors. UK HealthCare earned points for conducting awareness and registry activities between October 2019 and April 2020.

UK HealthCare was one of 1,700 organizations to participate in the 2020 campaign.

“Organ donation is the most selfless gift a person could give, and we’re grateful to all of our donors for making that choice,” said Dr. Roberto Gedaly, director of the UK Transplant Center. “We appreciate the WPFL Hospital Organ Donation Campaign for recognizing our efforts and UK HealthCare’s commitment to raising awareness about organ donation.”

The 2020 Hospital Campaign efforts added 59,662 registrations to state registries, including registrations from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Since its inception in 2011, the campaign has generated 552,026 registrations as well as united donation advocates at hospitals with representatives from their local organ procurement organizations, Donate Life America affiliates, and state and regional hospital associations. UK HealthCare worked with Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) to leverage its outreach efforts.

Every 10 minutes, another person is added to the organ transplant waiting list, reaffirming the critical and growing need for registered organ, eye and tissue donors. For more information about the WPFL Hospital Organ Donation Campaign, visit www.organdonor.gov/hospitals. Visit the Kentucky Organ Donation Registry for more information about becoming a donor.

UK Transplant Center specializes in the care of patients with advanced, end-stage organ disease. Each year, more than 200 transplant procedures are performed, including kidney, lung, liver, heart and pancreas transplants, and kidney and lung transplants for children. As an advanced center, transplant teams also perform combined transplants for double-lung, liver-lung, kidney-pancreas, heart-lung and heart-kidney.

Transplant teams including physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners and nurse coordinators, pharmacists, nutritionists, social workers, and support staff have provided solid organ transplantation services to more than 4,000 patients throughout the region since 1964. UK Transplant Center has clinic locations in Lexington, Louisville and Northern Kentucky, providing care for our transplant patients near the communities where they live and work. 

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.