More than 30 hours of surgery resulted in 13 organ transplants for 10 patients at NHS. The transplant surgeries began around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28 and continued until late Thursday afternoon, May 30.
When they were over, the surgical teams had transplanted six livers, one pancreas, one small bowel and four kidneys into nine adult and one pediatric patients. All 10 people are recovering at NHS.
“It made for a very busy 36 hours,” said Mark Emodi, RN, manager of Surgery for NHS. “There were a couple of points where we had three transplants going at one time and that’s in addition to the other procedures going on,” Emodi said.
“The surgeries could not have happened without the dedication of our team and the generosity of the donor families who turned their grief into hope for others.” said Alan Langnas, D.O., chief of transplantation at UNMC. “I am so proud of our transplant team, surgical staff and nursing units, who did an extraordinary job preparing the patients for transplant, assisting in the surgeries and taking care of the patients post-transplant.”
Most of the patients who received transplants are from the Midwest. One person came from as far away as Indiana for the surgery. NHS does not reveal information on donors.
“When the system works to save lives through organ donation, it makes the job so worth while,” said Kolleen Thompson, RN, manager of the NHS Organ Recovery Service. There are currently 80,000 people in the U.S. waiting for a transplant. Four hundred of them are in Nebraska. “Organ donors are the real heroes,” Thompson said. “You can become a donor by signing a donor card or the back of your driver’s license. Most importantly, tell your family about your wish to donate. Only then can you be sure your wish will be carried out,” she added.
For more information on organ donation, call 1-800-95-ORGAN or log onto www.NebraskaHealthSystem.com.