Promoting Organ Donor Registries

Mercy & Memorial Hospitals conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors, and community members about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donors and, by doing so, increased the number of potential donors on the state's donor registry.

BAKERSFIELD, CA – January 26, 2018 – Dignity Health Mercy & Memorial Hospitals were among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries in a national campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The campaign has added more than 400,000 donor enrollments to state registries nationwide.

Mercy & Memorial Hospitals conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors, and community members about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donors and, by doing so, increased the number of potential donors on the state’s donor registry. The hospital earned points for each activity implemented between October 2016 and May 2017 and was awarded Platinum recognition through the HRSA Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign.

Internal hospital activities included:

• Holding donor registration enrollment events within the hospitals to encourage employees to become organ donors.
• Donate Life flag raising ceremonies
• Participate in National Blue/Green Day
• Organ, eye and tissue donation education included in new employee orientations
• Special programs honoring living donors, transplant recipients, donor family members, and/or transplant professionals to discuss the Donate Life campaign and the importance of donation registration.

Of the 1,102 hospitals and transplant centers participating in the campaign, 349 Platinum Awards were awarded during this phase of the campaign.

This campaign is a special effort of HRSA’s Workplace Partnership for Life to mobilize the nation’s hospitals to increase the number of people in the country who are registered organ, eye, and tissue donors and ultimately, the number of organs available for transplant. The campaign unites donation advocates at hospitals with representatives from their local organ procurement organizations, Donate Life America affiliates, and state and regional hospital associations. Working together, the teams leverage their communications resources and outreach efforts to most effectively spread word of the critical need for donors.

About Dignity Health Bakersfield
Dignity Health Mercy and Memorial Hospitals is Kern County’s premier healthcare system with three acute care hospitals in Bakersfield and a growing number of medical facilities to meet the needs of our community. With a reputation for providing award-winning care and state-of-the-art services in a compassionate, caring environment, citizens of Bakersfield and the surrounding area know they have access to some of the most advanced medical care available between Los Angeles and Fresno. Our family of services range from our beautiful birth and family care centers to specialized centers of excellence such as the Sarvanand Heart and Brain Center, Grossman Burn Center, the Lauren Small Children’s Center, the Robert A. Grimm Children’s Pavilion for Emergency Services, the Urology Center, and the Orthopedic, Spine and Hand Center. As the largest healthcare organization in the western United States, Dignity Health is committed to the health and wellbeing of local residents.

We also care for the thousands of Mercy and Memorial Hospital employees who call Dignity Health home. As Kern County’s third largest employer, we have much to offer our more than 3,000 employees. Competitive wages and excellent benefits, along with a host of continuing education and career advancement opportunities, make Dignity Health one of Bakersfield’s most sought out workplaces. Delivering on our promise to provide quality, compassionate care is why more than 600 affiliated physicians and specialists choose our care centers for their patients. In addition to our three hospitals, Dignity Health Bakersfield provides a growing number of healthcare facilities to meet the needs of the community, including Millennium Surgery Center, Dignity Health Infusion Center at the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center, and the Dignity Health Medical Group in Bakersfield.