Mayo Clinic announces new Donor Care Unit
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(ABC 6 News) – Mayo Clinic announced Monday that a new Donor Care Unit is coming to Saint Marys Hospital.
The new addition is meant to help Mayo Clinic increase the amount of organ transplant procedures, which will chip away at the immense waitlist for these live-saving surgeries.
Chris Howard spoke at the announcement about her husband Eric’s decision to offer his organs to save lives.
“This would give us the opportunity to help some family who is going through an agonizing and devastating time in their lives,” Howard said.
Gavriella Fitting, is a recipient of a liver transplant and has expressed her gratitude for the life-saving procedure.
“I was given a second chance to live my life,” Fitting said. “I got to see my two youngest sons graduate kindergarten in May, I got to see my oldest son graduate middle school, and I met an amazing man that has his own understanding of what I’ve been through.”
Mayo Clinic is partnering with LifeSource, a major organ procurement organization, to open the new unit, which won’t require any new facilities to be built.
Officials are planning on the unit being open and operational later this summer.