MTN’s Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit Marks Second Anniversary

What it means for saving and enhancing more lives

“We have discovered it’s a gift,” said Lori Markham, Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Midwest Transplant Network. The gift is the MTN Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit (DCU) which observed its second year of providing expert care to donor heroes in September 2024.

MTN’s DCU opened Sept. 1, 2022, after more than five years of research, planning, preparation and training on the processes and technology associated with an in-house facility. In the past two years, with support from many hospital, professional and community partners, MTN has cared for 290 donor patients* from 29 area hospitals in the MTN world-class DCU. These donor heroes provided 960 lifesaving organs to those waiting for a second chance.

MTN’s DCU is a model for other organ procurement organizations (OPOs) across the country who are building donor care units or remodeling in their current space.

Out of 56 OPOs in the U.S., MTN is the 12th organization with a donor care and surgical recovery center that is not based in a hospital. Creating the DCU is one of many tactics MTN has taken to improve donation outcomes.

*All DCU data pulled from Sept. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2024.