Department of Health and Human Services officials have awarded Middle Tennessee Medical Center (MTMC) the HHS Bronze Medal of Honor for achieving and sustaining national goals for life-saving organ donation, including a donation rate of 75 percent or more of eligible donors.

MTMC is one of nearly 700 hospitals in the United States to be honored and the only hospital in the area to achieve 75 percent or greater collaborative conversion rate. This honor is given to hospitals with eight or more eligible donors in the past two years that have achieved the 75 percent or greater conversion rate. From 2010 through 2012, MTMC has had eight eligible donors, six of those becoming actual donors.

“We are honored to receive this award as it means we had a hand in providing the ‘gift of life’ to so many,” said Gordon Ferguson, president and CEO of MTMC. “We look forward to continuing our good work in this area, helping to increase education and understanding of organ donation.”

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), on average, eighteen people die every day in the United States while awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant. The total number of patients waiting for an organ transplant today is more than 116,000. More than one-third of them will die before a donor can be found. More than 600 of them are five years old or younger.

In Tennessee, about 2,500 people are on the national waiting list. Annually, around 300 people in Tennessee donate one or more life saving organs upon their death. There are currently 37 percent of licensed drivers 18 and over in our state that have already signed up to be an organ donor.

Sign up today to be an organ/tissue donor at www.donatelifetn.org.