Aspirus honored for organ and tissue donations

Three Aspirus hospitals were honored by University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation for their ongoing commitment to saving and improving lives through organ and tissue donation.

Aspirus Langlade Hospital in Antigo, Aspirus Riverview Hospital in Wisconsin Rapids and Aspirus Wausau Hospital received the Excellence in Tissue Donation award. Aspirus Wausau Hospital also received the Bronze Award of Hope.

The Excellence in Tissue Donation award is given to Versiti partner hospitals who achieve at least a 60% consent rate. This metric measures the collaborative work between the hospital staff and tissue bank in coordinating communication around tissue consent conversations.

The Award of Hope recognizes the comprehensive work of hospitals that achieve or exceed the goals of two important measures that maximize the gift of life: the true conversion rate, which measures the percent of medically eligible donors that become actual donors; and organs transplanted per donor, which measures the average number of organs recovered from each donor.

“The clinical management of donors, coupled with a hospital’s compassionate support of donor families, is a critical component to saving lives through the gift of organ donation and transplantation,” said Michael Anderson, executive director of UW Organ and Tissue Donation. “We honor these hospitals and their incredible physicians and nursing teams for working so hard to help ensure that those who are waiting for a transplant will get a second chance at life.”