PMH HealthBeat

Donate Life WV, CORE, honor PMH for encouraging organ donations

The Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE), the federally designated not-for- profit organ procurement organization (OPO) serving West Virginia, is pleased to partner with the West Virginia Hospital Association (WVHA) and Donate Life West Virginia, to honor 34 hospitals and health systems throughout the state, who have gone above and beyond to build a culture of donation within their facilities, including Pocahontas Memorial Hospital.

Jeremy Zeiders, Professional Services Liaison with CORE, presented a Platinum Level Award to PMH Chief Executive Officer Andrew Bair and Public Relations Coordinator Susan Wilkins November 17 at the Buckeye facility. The award is based on hospitals’ participation in the “Donate Life West Virginia Hospital Challenge,” which takes place from October to April each year.

The competition encourages state hospitals to highlight the need for organ, eye and tissue donors and to register more West Virginians as donors.

The Platinum Level is the highest level of recognition in the competition. This is the second Platinum award (and fourth award total) PMH has been presented since it began participating in the challenge. The efforts were coordinated by Susan Wilkins. Participating hospitals’ awareness and designation activities were captured on a scorecard, which was adapted for this year’s virtual format. Specific awareness activities at PMH included a flag raising ceremony, PSAs on the local radio station, articles and ads in The Pocahontas Times, posters in the hospital and around the community, an extensive social media campaign and donation displays at community events.

“For more than 40 years, CORE has relied on our hospital partners to make our life-saving mission possible. That has never been more true than in the past year. Even with the challenges presented by COVID-19, West Virginia’s hospitals never wavered from their committed to organ, tissue and cornea donation. Their participation in this challenge during a truly unprecedented year is proof of that unwavering commitment,” said Susan Stuart, president and CEO of CORE. “Thank you to our partners, who amidst a global pandemic, further strengthened the link between donation and transplantation, and gave CORE the privilege to care for more donors and donor families than ever before. Together, we brought light to a very dark time.”

Right now, 500 West Virginians are awaiting a life-saving organ transplant. In the 10 years of the Hospital Campaign, partners nationwide have added more than 575,000 donor registrations – increasing the number of organs available for transplantation to improve the lives of others.