HSHS St. Vincent Hospital and HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay and HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan are recipients of the Excellence in Tissue Donation Award from the American Tissues Services Foundation (ATSF) for 2024, exemplifying the dedicated effort these hospitals have made to have open and compassionate conversations about tissue donation.
The Excellence in Tissue Donation Award is given to hospitals who exceed the national average for tissue donation, which is 35 to 40 percent. Since the hospitals’ last time receiving these awards in 2022, their donation rate continues to climb – now up to 56.2 percent at St. Vincent, 50 percent at St. Mary’s and 53.8 percent at St. Nicholas. These donations of bone, skin, heart valves, connective tissues and veins provide hope for recipients across the nation. Just one tissue donor can improve an average of 75 lives through increased mobility, strength and independence. Additionally, cornea donors at St. Nicholas Hospital in 2024 restored the sight of 12 individuals through Lions Eye Bank Wisconsin.
“The generosity of organ and tissue donors offers recipients a second chance toward an enhanced quality of life,” said Isabelle C. Garibaldi, HSHS Wisconsin Market Chief Nursing Officer. “Promoting donor awareness and encouraging these gifts is essential to addressing the persistent shortage of available organs and tissues, which save countless lives within our community. Organ donation is a gift of life: through it, one person’s legacy becomes another’s hope.”
Through St. Vincent, St. Mary’s and St. Nicholas’ exceptional care and compassion for patients and their loved ones, these hospitals continue to provide hope, care and joy to all who look to them for care. To learn more about tissue donations, ATSF and their efforts visit their website https://www.atsfoundation.org/. To become an organ and tissue donor, visit Donate Life Wisconsin’s website https://donatelifewisconsin.org/.
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About Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS)
Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) is a nonprofit Catholic health care ministry founded in 1875. Dedicated to our Mission to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through high-quality Franciscan health care, HSHS clinicians provide exceptional care centered on the whole person. Based in Springfield, Illinois, HSHS employs nearly 11,000 colleagues who provide care in 13 acute-care, children’s and critical access hospitals and home health and hospice programs in Central and Southern Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin. HSHS is aligned with more than 1,000 primary and specialty physicians and advanced practitioners through its owned affiliates HSHS Medical Group and Prairie Cardiovascular and its partnership with Prevea Health. For more information about HSHS, visit hshs.org.
