Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center receives second national Medal of Honor for organ donation

PHOENIX (Oct. 20, 2008) – Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center and three other Arizona hospitals will be awarded the Medal of Honor by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for their achievements in raising organ donation rates. This is Banner Good Samaritan’s second federal Medal of Honor, having earned its previous medal in 2005.

The medal was presented to Banner Good Samaritan for achieving life-saving organ donation rates of 75 percent or more for a sustained 12-month period. Three other hospitals and the Donor Network of Arizona, the state’s organ procurement organization, also received Medals of Honor.

“The Medal of Honor is only awarded to hospitals and organ procurement organizations who maintain the highest level of collaboration with the organ procurement organization,” said Kate Buchta, director, Solid Organ Transplant Services. “Banner Good Samaritan has a long standing history of best practices and collaboration with the Donor Network of Arizona. It is only by the gift of life given by those donor families that our success can be measured. We are grateful and honored by those gifts, and proud to be recognized among not only Arizona hospitals, but also the country’s top collaborative transplant programs.”

“We congratulate the Intensive Care Units and Emergency department staffs for all the hard work they do, because that’s where this tough work happens,” Buchta added. “They are the ones who have first contact with the patients and families, make the referral to Donor Network of Arizona and work with the families to make the donation happen. It takes special people to do this work in the face of personal tragedy, but they offer this opportunity with compassion and empathy for the grieving family.”

The awards will be presented during the fourth annual National Learning Congress on Organ Donation and Transplantation in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 23-24. The Medal of Honor is part of the federal Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative. The goal is to increase donation rates by partnering hospitals with their local procurement organization, such as Donor Network of Arizona. For more information, visit http://www.organdonor.gov/.

Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been providing medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. Banner Good Samaritan is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a nonprofit organization, and is a flagship hospital within the system. The hospital was recently named for a ninth year to U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” list for Gastroenterology, Gynecology, Heart and Heart Surgery, and Kidney Disease. Banner Good Samaritan has been recognized as a Magnet facility by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest honor a hospital can earn for its nursing care and practices.

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Contact:
Banner Good Samaritan Public Relations
(602) 239-4411