Mass General Transplant Center Awarded the 2020 Pinnacle Award

Every April, organ procurement organizations, transplant centers and countless other communities recognize and celebrate the entire month as National Donate Life Month.

In April 2019, the Massachusetts General Hospital Transplant Center partnered with New England Donor Services (NEDS)—the organization responsible for coordinating organ and tissue donation throughout New England—to revitalize their Donate Life Month efforts, encourage donor registration and honor those who have given the gift of life through donation.

As a result of these efforts, Donate Life America recognized Mass General Transplant Center and NEDS as a Top Hospital/Healthcare Program and awarded the 2020 Pinnacle Award. These awards are given out each year and recognize programs successful in inspiring more people to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and establishing donation as a cultural norm.

During the 2019 National Donate Life Month, as Mass General and NEDS worked together to advance a culture where donation is embraced as a fundamental human responsibility, they executed the following initiatives:

• Facebook Live: To increase awareness and provide information about living donation, the Transplant Center organized a Facebook Live event that featured Leigh Anne Dageforde, MD, MPH, abdominal organ transplant and hepatobiliary surgeon, and Charles Rickert, MD, surgical resident and living donor. Watch the recording
• Blue & Green Day: As part of National Donate Life Month, there is a dedicated Blue & Green Day that encourages the public to wear the campaign's colors as a way to increase awareness. Mass General’s Blue & Green Day effort focused on mobilizing the Mass General community, encouraging them to post photos of themselves on social media wearing the colors along with a caption about National Donate Life Month. See the photo album >
• Mass General Youth Curriculum: The Mass General Youth Scholars program provides more than 1,000 young people each year with academic, life and career skills that expand and enhance their educational and career pathways. In 2019, an Organ Donation & Transplantation unit was added to the Mass General youth curriculum. The goal was to introduce young, aspiring clinicians and future responsible citizens to the field of organ donation and transplantation

One organ donor has the ability to save up to eight lives through donation, and on average, a single tissue donor can enhance the lives of 75 people. At Mass General, we are advocates for organ and tissue donation and strive to find new ways to share available organs among patients on transplant wait lists and, ultimately, to give a second chance at life.