The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded Shands Jacksonville Medical Center a gold Medal of Honor today for success in increasing the number of organs available for transplantation. Medals of Honor were given to hospitals across the country, but Shands Jacksonville was just one of 22 facilities to receive gold.

Shands Jacksonville was only one of two hospitals in Florida to receive the gold medal, given to those who achieved three different performance measures: a 75 percent or greater conversion rate (the percentage of donors compared to all deaths that met eligibility criteria for organ donation); a 10 percent or greater rate of donation after cardiac death (DCD); and a rate of organs transplanted per donor of 3.75 or greater. Shands Jacksonville had a 75.4 percent conversion rate, 16.3 percent DCD and 3.9 organs transplanted per donor.

"Organ donors have a significant impact on the lives of not only the transplant recipients, but their families as well. This is truly the gift of life," said Jim Burkhart, president and CEO of Shands Jacksonville. "We're proud to work with our partners in helping everyone involved in this delicate process."

Shands Jacksonville and Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville work closely with LifeQuest to find, secure and deliver these organs. The seven hospitals in LifeQuest's service area each had eight or more eligible organ donors during the two-year measurement period that ended on March 1, 2012. All seven received a bronze, silver or gold medal. Shands at the University of Florida received a silver medal for achieving two of the criteria.

"The hospitals in our service area have made great strides to ensure that all patients who could potentially donate lifesaving organs for transplantation are referred to our program," said Danielle Cornell, executive director of LifeQuest. "Their unwavering support of the donation program, their commitment to honor donor designations, and their devotion to the thousands of Floridians in need of life-saving and life-enhancing transplants is to be commended."

LifeQuest is the federally-designated organ procurement organization (OPO) serving a 36-county region of northern Florida. Hospital executives, together with their partners in the nation's 58 OPOs, were recognized during the Seventh National Learning Congress on Organ Donation and Transplantation held Oct. 4 in Grapevine, Texas.