Southwest Transplant Alliance Reaches Milestone Achievements During COVID-19 Crisis
Dallas OPO innovates through pandemic to avoid disruption of lifesaving mission
DALLAS – January 25, 2021 – 2020 was one of the most challenging years for the healthcare industry. As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, Southwest Transplant Alliance (STA), working in some of the country’s hardest hit cities, adopted the mantra “The Waitlist Can’t Wait.” For the 108,000 individuals awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant, STA knew its lifesaving mission was critical, now more than ever before. STA focused on innovating through the challenges of the pandemic. While maintaining strong operations throughout the year, STA was able to save more than 1,300 lives through organ donation in 2020. STA also ensured life-enhancing procedures could be possible through the selfless gifts of more than 700 tissue donors.
“Overall, the healthcare industry took a tremendous hit this year,” said President and CEO of STA Patti Niles. “It was a struggle to provide care, maintain morale and supply our frontline staff with proper protective equipment. Yet even with those challenges, organ donation was able to continue. We were able to save lives, heal families and deliver hope. I am proud of our frontline teams and our support staff for their incredible work in 2020.”
STA is recognized as one of the leading organ procurement organizations in the United States. In fact, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recognized STA as a top-tier organization under its new metrics for all organ procurement organizations. This is a significant accomplishment as 57 organ procurement organizations adjust their operational procedures to under a new set of regulations set forth by CMS in 2020.
“We were able to save lives, heal families and deliver hope. I am proud of our frontline teams and our support staff for their incredible work in 2020.”
COVID-19 Response
COVID-19 threatened the healthcare industry’s ability to protect staff and provide care to communities. STA works in more than 250 hospitals across the state of Texas to provide support to families, monitor and care for potential organ donors, and care for families left behind. Throughout the pandemic, STA continued to work with the community and fulfill the wishes of individuals able to donate organs and tissue for transplant. Critical to that success was testing every potential organ and tissue donor for COVID-19 early on in the pandemic.
As hospitals continued to flood with ill patients, STA implemented a new partnership to transfer potential organ donors out of hospital ICUs and into a safe and COVID-free environment. STA transferred potential organ donors to First Baptist Medical Center in Dallas – an elective surgery facility that was unable to conduct normal operations during the height of the pandemic due to COVID-19 protocols. The center became a key partner in STA’s ability to keep transplant surgeons and organ recovery staff safe while also providing healthy and viable organs for transplant.
STA Corporate Headquarters and The Legacy Center
After more than seven years of planning, capital fundraising and construction, STA completed its state-of-the-art Corporate Headquarters and organ and tissue recovery center – The Legacy Center – in late 2020.
“The pandemic created a real sense of urgency for our organization to ensure that we could continue our mission of saving lives,” continued Niles. “The Legacy Center is a hub of innovation with the highest level of care possible for organ and tissue donors and their families. COVID will continue to impact our community and the work that we do well into 2021. So many of our potential organ donors are unable to donate because they test positive for COVID. And that means, the waitlist continues to wait. Now more than ever, it is imperative that the community register to donate, speak with their families and understand that organ and tissue donation is a beautiful and selfless gift bringing hope and healing to so many. And during this difficult time, that is what we all need most.”
Case studies indicate organ recovery centers increase the number of organs available for transplant and save more lives. These facilities are built with unique specifications featuring highly specialized instruments, equipment and staff to ensure exceptional care for donors and families.
With COVID-19 surging throughout the country, STA is working to alleviate the strain on hospital systems running low on ICU beds, ventilators and oxygen. Transferring donors out of the hospital ICU and to The Legacy Center enables STA to conduct all related procedures for organ donation in a highly specialized environment. The facility and STA staff members administer bedside care, conduct onsite lab work and provide care and comfort to organ and tissue donors and their families. The Legacy Center also includes a perfusion lab onsite to accommodate artificial pumping for organs as they are transported from donor to recipient.
Innovation for the future
In partnership with hospital systems throughout the organization’s donor service area, STA is working to further alleviate the strain on hospital systems related to potential organ donation referrals. The STA Resource Toolkit to Enhance Referrals (STARTER), has successfully increased organ donation referrals. A timely referral from a hospital initiates the organ donation process. And with COVID-19 straining hospitals systems and their staff members, STARTER will provide much relief to ICU staff members through an automated, timely notification to STA that a potential organ donor has met clinical triggers to qualify for organ donation.
CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital - Tyler, Texas, tested the system and STA saw a 52% increase in tissue referrals and a 31% increase in tissue donors. Most notable, though, is the impact on organ donations: from January through October 2019, there was a 40% increase in organ donor referrals that led to a 100% increase in the lives saved from the transplants from donors at that single hospital when comparing the same timeframe in 2018.
A systematic rollout of STARTER is already underway. In partnership with large medical systems throughout the state of Texas, STA is working to ensure that this innovative platform can support hospital staff members, organ donors and their families and of course those waiting on an organ transplant.
As healthcare systems and communities around the world continue to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, STA will continue to develop partnerships and drive innovative ways to save more lives through organ and tissue donation. Support the mission of STA and register your decision to donate HERE.