PHILADELPHIA, PA – Gift of Life Donor Program – the organ procurement organization for the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware – and the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) Southeast Connect, honored Temple University Hospital with the 2024 Gift of Life Award on November 8, 2024. This prestigious annual award is given to a hospital with superior performance in organ donation that has either achieved a 75 percent organ donation conversion rate during the past year or that has dramatically improved their performance.
Gift of Life also recognized the following 16 Pennsylvania hospitals that achieved a 100 percent patient referral rate: Bryn Mawr Hospital, Doylestown Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Abington Hospital, Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital, Jefferson Frankford Hospital, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Nazareth Hospital, Paoli Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Hospital, Pottstown Hospital, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, St. Mary Medical Center, Temple University Hospital, Temple University Hospital – Jeanes Campus.
The recipients were honored during a HAP Southeast Connect Meeting.
“Temple University Hospital has consistently been a leading force for life-saving organ donation in the Philadelphia region thanks to its strong culture of donation and excellent working partnership with Gift of Life. Donation is supported at all levels of the organization and championed by Temple’s Organ Donation Council, which promotes clinical best practices,” said Rick Hasz, president and CEO, Gift of Life Donor Program. “This award recognizes the hard work and dedication of the Temple team who go above and beyond the call of duty every day, providing the opportunity for donation to families. They provide compassionate support and help create lasting legacies for donor heroes.”
“This recognition is a testament to the dedication of so many staff members at Temple University Hospital and the hard work that goes on behind-the-scenes to support organ donation and transplantation,” said Abhinav Rastogi, MBA, MIS, Executive Vice President, Temple University Health System and president and CEO, Temple University Hospital. “This honor would also not be possible without the close collaboration of the Gift of Life Donor Program and the selfless generosity of donors and their families, who choose to give the gift of life to recipients in need.”
Gift of Life Donor Program, founded in 1974 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. It works with 126 acute care hospitals and 12 transplant centers in its region, as well as hundreds of transplant centers throughout the country, to provide the most comprehensive array of services available in the U.S. to the donation and transplantation community. Thanks to the generosity of its community, Gift of Life has coordinated 14,196 donors and 39,469 organs for transplant, the most of any OPO in the country since the inception of our national donation system in 1988. Overall, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 59,000 organs and more than two million tissue transplants since its founding. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people, and a tissue donor can improve the lives of 100 others. In honor of its 50 years of service, Gift of Life is rallying the community to sign up 50,000 more organ donors and provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Learn more and sign up at donors1.org.