Published 10/31/2006 :: Spartanburg Herald Journal

Agency praises organ donation program at Spartanburg Regional

By EMILY DAGOSTINO
Staff Writer

The 7-year-old gave his liver, kidneys and corneas. His heart was donated for research. His pancreas seeds were used to help other people's pancreases work, said Harriett Kropff, Craig's mother.

"He helped a lot of people," she said. Craig died 14 years ago after a bike crash in Wellford.

Until a few years ago, patients such as Craig were a minority at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. Then, the hospital recovered only about 10 percent of potential donors' organs, said Amy Hamrick, the hospital's organ donation and clinical liaison.

That number has ballooned this year to 84 percent.

"We started educating on organ donation and started increasing the awareness about organ donation in the hospital," Hamrick said.

Spartanburg Regional was one of six hospitals in South Carolina honored earlier this month by the Department of Health and Human Services for sustaining at least a 75 percent organ donation rate for eligible donors. South Carolina's organ procurement organization (OPO), LifePoint, also was honored.

The turnaround started with a federal push in 2003 to increase donation as waiting lists grew longer and the donor pool stagnated. The nationwide effort pulled together federal agencies, hospitals and OPOs so they could learn from each other.

"We kept seeing the waiting list grow 10, 12, 20 times more, so there was a critical shortage," said Nancy Kay, LifePoint's president and CEO. "There still is a critical shortage."

The national average donation rate in all hospitals was 59 percent last year. In 2004 that rate was 55 percent, according to HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration. Almost 95,000 people nationwide need an organ, Kay said, and only 4,000 to 5,000 donate each year.

"I think what we've all learned is that the OPO can only play a small role," Kay added. "We've come such a long way in South Carolina, largely due to the hospitals really taking ownership of that (collaborative) program and working … through different things with us that may be a barrier to donation."

Some of those barriers include the lack of timely referral and failure to recognize patients who have the potential to donate, Kay said. Spartanburg Regional also collaborates with LifePoint to bring in family support counselors who can help families understand the donation process.

In most cases, donor patients end up in the hospital as the result of a major and unexpected trauma, such as an aneurysm, stroke or accident, Hamrick said.

In the hospital after Craig's wreck, Kropff said her son looked the same "except he had broken bones and a massive head trauma.

"I was sitting right next to his bed and held his hand, and he looked like he was all right. But I knew he wasn't," she said.

Kropff said she takes great comfort from the fact that her son's organs have served so many others.

"To meet the lady who received his liver was wonderful," she said. "We both just stood in our driveway crying and hugging each other just like we'd been friends our whole lives."

Emily Dagostino can be reached at 562-7221 or emily.dagostino@shj.com.