Tift Regional Medical Center was among a select group of hospitals from across the nation recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ, eye and tissue donor registries in the Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) Hospital Campaign. WPFL is a national initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Tift Regional Medical Center conducted awareness and registration campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors and their communities about the critical need for organ, eye and tissue donors and, by doing so, increased the number of potential donors on Georgia’s Organ and Tissue Donor Registry.

“Organ, eye, and tissue donation is a very important cause for me,” said Carol Smith, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Executive and Senior Vice President, Acute Care. “We work very hard to educate our staff, our patients and visitors, and our overall community on organ donation. There are a lot of myths out there about it, so we try to dispel those with various education programs. There is a large need for the gift of life, as each tissue donor can save or improve up to 75 lives.”

Every 11 minutes another person is added to the national transplant waiting list, which currently includes over 113,000 people. Approximately 22 people die every day because of organ shortage.

Participating hospitals earned points for each activity implemented between October 2018 and April 2019 and, depending on the amount of points accumulated, hospitals were recognized with platinum, gold, silver or bronze awards. Tift Regional Medical Center was awarded platinum recognition for their efforts during this year’s WPFL Hospital Campaign.

Throughout the country, nearly 1,500 hospitals and transplant centers participated in the campaign, and 638 platinum, 226 gold, 378 silver and 228 bronze awards were achieved. Of those, 78 are Georgia hospitals. Georgia ranked 4th among other participating states with only California, Florida and Maine acquiring more awards.

“Tift Regional Medical Center is a great champion for organ, eye, and tissue donation. We are proud of their accomplishment and applaud them for making a difference in the lives of the more than 5,000 Georgians that are currently waiting for transplant,” said Danny Johnson, Hospital Development Liaison with LifeLink of Georgia, “It is because of these professionals unyielding dedication to saving lives that we applaud their achievements.”

To register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor online, visit the Donate Life Georgia Organ and Tissue Donor Registry at www.DonateLifeGeorgia.org. You can also register by saying YES to donation when you get or renew your driver license or state identification card through Georgia’s Department of Driver Services, or by calling 1-866-57-SHARE (74273).