Newswise — Hackensack Meridian Health is among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized for reaching platinum, gold, silver and bronze levels of achievement for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries. Hackensack Meridian Health is part of a national hospital 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.
“Nationwide, there are almost 120,000 people waiting for life-saving transplants, of which more than 5,000 are New Jersey residents,” says John Lloyd, co-CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health. “We’re doing our part to educate the community, register new donors, and help provide remarkable opportunities for individuals waiting for a transplant.”
Awareness and registry efforts took place at Hackensack Meridian Health’s hospitals to educate staff, patients, visitors and community members about the critical need for organ, eye and tissue donors. The hospitals earned points for each activity implemented between May 2015 and April 2016 through the HRSA Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign.
Of the 995 hospitals and transplant centers participating in the campaign, Hackensack University Medical Center received platinum level recognition. Bayshore Community Hospital, Hackensack UMC in Mountainside, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center received gold level recognition. Silver level was presented to Palisades Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy and Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley attained bronze level recognition. See the full list of hospitals recognized here.
“It’s wonderful for the hospitals to be recognized for their efforts to support such an important cause,” says Robert C. Garrett, co-CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health. “Activities such as lectures, educational displays, raising of the donor flag when a donation is made, and one-on-one conversations are valuable ways to educate people about the opportunity to provide life and healing through organ and tissue donation.”
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. The campaign unites donation advocates at hospitals with representatives from their organ procurement organizations, Donate Life America affiliates, and state and regional hospital associations. Together, the teams leverage their communications resources and outreach efforts to most effectively spread word of the critical need for donors.
While people are perhaps most familiar with the concept of donating organs such as the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs and pancreas, corneas can help to restore sight, bone and other tissue can repair injured or diseased bones and joints, and skin can help heal burns. In fact, one donor can save up to eight lives and restore health to 50 others. For more information about organ donation and registration, visit www.donatelifenj.org.
About Hackensack Meridian HealthHackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 13 hospitals, including two academic medical centers, two children’s hospitals and nine community hospitals, physician practices, more than 120 ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 28,000 team members, more than 6,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.
The Network’s notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, the number one hospital in New Jersey as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” one of the “20 Best Workplaces in Health Care” in the nation, and the number one “Best Place to Work for Women.” Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.
The hospitals of Hackensack Meridian Health include: academic medical centers - HackensackUMC in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune; children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, HackensackUMC Mountainside in Montclair, HackensackUMC Palisades in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley in Westwood.
To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org.
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