CHICAGO (CBS) — The first hospital-based organ donation center in Illinois opens Thursday, and CBS News Chicago got an exclusive sneak peek at the new setup that could save hundreds of lives a year.
The beeping at Rush University Medical Center will soon increase. In a few weeks, they’ll be very busy, according to transplant surgeon Dr. Edie Chan, who directs the new Gift of Hope Organ Donor Care Center at Rush, which uniquely focuses on deceased patients whose lungs, hearts and more will live on in others.
Chan and her team expect to go from 20 to more than 100 organ transplants per year.
“It was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it,” she said.
More than 100,000 people nationwide are waiting for potentially life-saving transplants, including about 5,000 in Illinois and Indiana. Some people express their desire to be an organ donor on their driver’s license. Family members can also give permission after a loved one dies in a hospital.
“All the stars have to align to make it successful from start to finish,” said Tiffnay Garcia, manager of organ operations at The Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network.
Her organization coordinates logistics with hospitals, matches donors with recipients, and much more.
She said each donor room is equipped with special equipment, tools that monitor the health of organs or tissues, while the clock is constantly ticking.
“Our staff has to take these individually to each hospital and that takes a lot more time,” Garcia said.
That is no longer the case, as all the necessary equipment, staff and space are in one location. The added benefit of this is that other hospitals can free up beds by transferring organ donors to Rush.
“It greatly increases the efficiency of the system,” Garcia said.
It’s a system Eugene Johnson’s mother, Marquita, is all too familiar with. Her 18-year-old daughter died of heart disease in May 2023.
“My first thought was, ‘I want my child’s legacy to last forever,’” Johnson said.
Her Downers Grove South senior may be dead, but she finds comfort in knowing he helped people across the country.
“I am healing because the gift of hope gave me the gift to say I have helped 17 families so far,” Johnson said.
The Donor Care Center aims to increase the impact of organ donors. By having everything in one place, there is a greater chance that more organs can be saved to help more people.
“We have more time to repeat multiple tests on the donor, so we can try to put the heart in someone who desperately needs a heart transplant, or put the lungs in someone who really needs a lung transplant,” Chan said.
The families of donors are not forgotten in the effort. Designers of the new center made sure there was a special lounge where people could grieve and wait for news of their loved one’s gift.
There are only a handful of specialized centers for organ donation surgery in the United States. Such facilities specifically increase the chances of saving and using lungs. There are about 1,000 people on the waiting list for this nationwide.
Lauren Victory
