HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital and HCA Florida Englewood Hospital also earn recognition
Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s campuses in Sarasota and Vence, along with the HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital and HCA Florida Englewood Hospital, are among the 30 hospitals in the 15-county service area of LifeLink® of Florida to earn “prestigious platinum recognition in the Health Resources and Services Administration’s DoNation Campaign,” LifeLink has announced.
The program is dedicated to promoting organ and tissue donation awareness and registration, a news release explains.
The 2024 facility figure marks “an 11% increase in the number of hospitals achieving this top honor,” compared to the total for the previous year, LifeLink notes in the release.
“This recognition highlights the hospitals’ commitment to fostering a culture of donation by partnering with local organ procurement organizations to raise awareness, engage their communities, and inspire individuals to learn more about saving lives through organ donation and make informed decisions about registering as donors,” the release explains.
From Oct. 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 2024, the release points out, “the DoNation Campaign engaged 1,434 workplaces, primarily hospitals, nationwide. Florida had 110 participants — the second-highest number of any U.S. state or territory — “including 58 hospital partners in the LifeLink of Florida service area.”
In addition to platinum recognition, gold, silver and bronze honors were awarded, based on the hospitals’ engagement level with the campaign, the release notes.
Through activities such as community health fairs, donor memorial services and celebrations, flag-raising ceremonies, donor registration tabling events and social media engagement, each hospital earned points for its HRSA DoNation Campaign scorecard, the release adds. “Participants earned at least 750 points to achieve platinum recognition,” it says.
This is yet another honor for Sarasota Memorial. In late November 2024, both the Sarasota and Venice campuses “received top marks for how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections,” as shown in The Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2024 Hospital Safety Report Cards. “The SMH-Sarasota team continued the straight A record it has held since 2016, while the SMH-Venice team earned its second A grade this fall after receiving an A grade in its first reporting period [that] spring,” an SMH news release noted.
For another example regarding SMH, in late February, it once again won recognition from Newsweek as one of the World’s Best Hospitals.
SMH remains the only hospital in Southwest Florida “to ever make the list,” a news release pointed out at that time; it has been recognized every year since Newsweek began providing those rankings in 2019.
On its website, HCA Florida Englewood explains that it is a “100-bed acute care hospital [that] offers a wide variety of patient-focused healthcare services to [the] community.” Among its services and capabilities, the website says, the facility provides “24/7 emergency care, cardiovascular care, general surgery, orthopedics, stroke care and advanced imaging services.”
In an April 17 statement provided to the News Leader, at its request, Dr. James Fiorica, chief medical officer of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System,” said, “Organ and tissue donation saves lives, and raising awareness is vital for the health of our patients and the well-being of our community. At Sarasota Memorial, we are committed to supporting this lifesaving mission every step of the way. We are honored to be recognized.”
HCA Sarasota Doctors Hospital also received a grade of A in the Spring and Fall 2024 Leapfrog reports, as well as in the Fall 2022 and Spring and Fall 2021 reports. In the Spring 2024 report, the hospital was graded B.
HCA Florida Englewood received Leapfrog A grades in the Spring 2024, Spring and Fall 2023, Spring and Fall 2022 and Spring and Fall 2021 reports. In the Fall 2024 report, it received a B.
The honorees that joined the Sarasota Memorial campuses and HCA Florida Sarasota and Florida Englewood hospitals are listed alphabetically:
- AdventHealth Wesley Chapel.
- Cape Coral Hospital.
- Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.
- Gulf Coast Medical Center.
- HCA Florida Blake Hospital.
- HCA Florida Brandon Hospital.
- HCA Florida Largo Hospital.
- HCA Florida Northside Hospital.
- HealthPark Medical Center.
- James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital.
- Lakeland Regional Health.
- Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.
- Lee Memorial Hospital.
- Lehigh Regional Medical Center.
- Manatee Memorial Hospital.
- Mease Dunedin Hospital.
- Morton Plant Hospital.
- St. Anthony’s Hospital.
- St. Joseph’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital.
- Tampa General Hospital.
- Winter Haven Hospital.
The importance of the DoNation Campaign
“LifeLink is proud to work with our hospital partners whose dedication to highlighting the importance of organ and tissue donation makes a profound difference in the lives of so many,” said Darren Lahrman, executive director of LifeLink of Florida, in the release. “Their commitment to the DoNation Campaign reflects the spirit of collaboration we’re honored to experience year-round in joint efforts to honor the decisions of registered donors, support donor families, and provide hope to patients awaiting life-saving transplants,” Lahrman added.
The 2023-2024 HRSA DoNation Campaign participants “inspired more than 23,000 donor registrations, bringing total registrations through this program to 662,000 since its inception in 2011,” the release points out.
More than 104,000 individuals in the United States “and roughly 5,400 “Floridians wait for a lifesaving organ transplant,” the release notes. LifeLink® of Florida encourages people to leave an infinite legacy by registering as organ, eye and tissue donor at MyStoryContinues.com today, or when obtaining or renewing a driver’s license. For the thousands in need, this simple yet generous act offers hope and a second chance at life,” the release adds.
“LifeLink® of Florida is the federally designated, nonprofit organ procurement organization on the front line of saving lives through organ and tissue donation in West and Southwest Florida,” the release explains. “LifeLink collaborates around the clock with local hospitals to honor the decisions of registered donors, support donor families, and save lives of patients in need of transplantation each year. “
For more information about LifeLink, visit www.LifeLinkFoundation.org.