Local hospital honored for organ donations

Source: The Santa Clarita Valley Signal

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently honored Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital for its top organ-donation rates.

The Santa Clarita Valley’s only hospital was awarded a Bronze Medal because it maintained an organ donation-conversion rate of 75 percent or more during the given time period.

There were six organ donors at Newhall Memorial, and 13 organs transplanted between Oct. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2010, resulting in an 85-percent conversion rate.

This is the fourth year Newhall Memorial has received the medal.

Newhall Memorial was one of eight hospitals out of more than 200 hospitals throughout the seven-county greater Los Angeles area honored for excellence in organ donation.

“We’re honored to receive an award that validates our efforts to give those waiting for an organ donation hope for renewed health,” hospital president and CEO Roger Seaver said in a statement. “But the real heroes are the individuals and their families, who made the decision to try to have something positive come from their own tragedy.”