Erlanger Health System was recently by the awarded the 2008 Organ Donation Medal of Honor from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for its success in raising organ donation rates.
Erlanger, in conjunction with Tennessee Donor Services, received this award from exceeding a donation rate of 77 percent from June 2007 to May 2008. Currently there are over 100,000 people on the national waiting list for an organ and approximately 18 people die every day off of that list due to the lack of life saving organs available.
Erlanger is one of eight Tennessee hospitals that received the Medal of Honor this year.
"This is a direct reflection on all the hard work that the entire Erlanger Health System and Tennessee Donor Services have done together to increase the number of organ donations in the Chattanooga area," said Denise Fugatt, Senior Hospital Services Coordinator for Tennessee Donor Services in Chattanooga.
Erlanger Health System is a non-profit, academic medical center affiliated with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, and is a Level-One Trauma Center for adults and, through T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital, is also the region's only pediatric hospital. Erlanger is the only provider of tertiary care services for a four-state region encompassing southeast Tennessee, north Georgia, north Alabama and western North Carolina. With a history that dates back more than a century, Erlanger is recognized as one of the nation's finest public hospitals and a leader in healthcare. Each year, more than a quarter of a million people are treated by the team of healthcare professionals who are part of Erlanger.