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Methodist Hospital has been awarded a 2004 Medal of Honor for Organ Donation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The flagship hospital of Methodist Healthcare in San Antonio is one of only 184 hospitals in the country to be recognized for achievement in the Organ Donor Breakthrough Collaborative. HHS launched this effort in 2003 to identify and share best practices among hospitals, to maximize organ donation rates from people who die in these facilities. The national goal was for each hospital to reach a donation rate of at least 75 percent of eligible donors.

"I think this recognition demonstrates how seriously the doctors and nursing staffs in the ICUs at all Methodist facilities take organ donation. This award is really a credit to their hard work during very difficult situations,” said Marc Strode, Methodist Healthcare Vice President for Transplant Services and Cancer Center. “Their achievements demonstrate that we can improve systems to boost donation rates and save many more lives in the future,” said Elizabeth Duke, PhD, administrator of HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration.

Methodist Healthcare is San Antonio’s largest and most preferred health care provider whose facilities include seven acute care hospitals: Methodist Children’s Hospital of South Texas*, Methodist Hospital, Methodist Heart Hospital*, Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital,* Northeast Methodist Hospital,* Metropolitan Methodist Hospital* and Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Hospital--Northwest. Construction on the new Methodist Stone Oak Hospital is due to begin in early 2006.

* a Methodist Hospital facility