Celebrating One Year of a World-Class Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit Continued from page 1 “It’s an honor to fulfill the mission of MTN in this incredibly important work and also recognize the need to continue innovating and improving to honor donor heroes and their families,” said Jan Finn, RN, MSN, MTN President & Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud to see our staff and facility working so well allowing us to extend the gift of life to even more recipients and provide hope for those awaiting a transplant.” MTN staff members are highly trained in the complexity of caring for organ donor heroes in the DCU, which was designed specifically to maximize the gift of life; this can free up critical resources in area hospitals — such as intensive care unit beds and operating rooms — to serve other patients in need. “My team has complete confidence in sending our patients to Midwest Transplant Network’s DCU,” said Carol Perry, Senior Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer, Stormont Vail Health; MTN Advisory Board. “The state-of-the-art facility allows MTN’s team of expertly trained staff members to provide specialized care for donors as their gifts are matched with recipients and throughout the organ, eye and tissue recovery process. Knowing our donor heroes are receiving high-quality care at the DCU allows us to dedicate resources to critically ill patients in our ICU.”
Celebrating Diversity in Donation
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n August, we celebrated National Multiethnic Donor Awareness Month, a collaborative initiative to save and enhance lives in diverse communities by creating a positive culture for organ, eye and tissue donation. Our staff members and Ambassadors were hard at work in the community all month, participating at donation information booths at area Walgreens locations, the Missouri State Fair, the North Kansas City Schools convocation kicking off the academic year and the Ryan Grace Memorial Scholarship and Baseball Tournament, as well as festivals such as Hot Alma Nights in Alma, Kansas. We also shared stories about staff members, donor heroes and volunteer Ambassadors of different races, ethnicities and traditions on our website and social media, and we hosted a lunch and learn with the Greater Kansas City Black Nurses Association (GKCBNA). GKCBNA’s founder, Deborah Washam, RN, MSN, CCM, presented disparities in healthcare that impact African American communities and educated about a range of donation-related myths that can make people less likely to say “yes” to organ, eye and tissue donation. Regardless of your cultural identity, we encourage you to join the organ, eye and tissue donor registry if you haven’t already done so at ShareLifeMidwest.com, through your iPhone Health app, or at a licensing, treasury or Department of Revenue office.
National DMV Appreciation Month
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eptember is National DMV Appreciation Month, and we enjoyed recognizing our valuable licensing, treasury and Department of Revenue office partners all month long (for details, see page 6). Although September is over, our gratitude for the important work employees at these offices do in helping patrons join the organ, eye and tissue donor registry continues. The next time you visit a licensing, treasury or Department of Revenue office, please join us in thanking the staff members for asking donation-related questions, helping to save and enhance lives.
2 • Learn more about organ, eye and tissue donation at mwtn.org
