Upland Hills Health Recognized For Excellence in Tissue Donation

Nicole Waite of RTI Donor Services presents Carol Ann Kreul  Director of Critical Care Services at Upland Hills Health with an Award of Excellence

Upland Hills Health in Dodgeville has received an Excellence in Donation award recognizing its efforts to provide options to donor families in 2005.

Upland Hills’ tissue donation partner, Madison, Wis.-based RTI Donor Services, presented the honor.

According to RTI Donor Services Development Specialist Nicole Waite, Upland Hills Health was recognized for achieving a 22 percent tissue donation rate in 2005.

This means that tissue was recovered on 22 percent of the hospital’s eligible donors. Gifts of tissue—which include bone, skin, heart valves, connective tissue, and veins—are used in more than 1 million surgeries routinely performed each year in the United States.

Many more people are eligible tissue donors than they are organ donors, Waite says. Organ donation usually takes place when brain death has occurred, and transplants must be performed within a short time afterward. Tissue can be recovered within 12 to 24 hours of death and preserved for later use.

“This outstanding accomplishment by Upland Hills Health has made a tremendous difference in the lives of others,” Waite notes. “Donated tissue gifts save lives, as well as increase strength, mobility and independence for many, many patients.”

RTI Donor Services Inc. offers the option of tissue donation to families and provides donation awareness education and support services to local communities throughout the United States.  These include human donated tissue recovery services to hospitals, health care facilities, funeral homes, coroners, and medical examiners. Accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks, RTI Donor Services works with donor families and donation partners in Arizona, Georgia, northern Illinois, Michigan, New York and Wisconsin.