San Antonio center stepped up to save lives
Partnership kept transplants going through pandemic
SAN ANTONIO — As the coronavirus started to spread across the country in March 2020, hospital beds and medical supplies were reserved for only the sickest patients and those involved in life-threatening emergencies.
All elective surgeries ground to a halt, threatening the highly regulated organ procurement and transplantation system. It was a time of uncertainty as hospitals struggled to provide the necessary equipment and operating rooms to facilitate the organ donation process while being told to divert medical resources to the coming COVID-19 pandemic.
But in San Antonio, a 13,000square-foot facility dedicated to recovering organs, tissue and corneas had opened just one month earlier. As a result, hospitals without transplant teams could transfer a donor’s body to the center for the procurement process.
These donations are put on the national registry and sent across the country to recipients based on medical urgency and a good match.
At the time, the Center for Life at University Hospital was the only such facility in Texas. It was able to keep the region’s organ transplants going during the pandemic with little disruption.
Within its first year, the center helped more than 18,000 people through organ, tissue and eye donations.
Because of the pandemic, however, Jennifer Milton, chief administrative officer at University Transplant Center, said they had to shift gears and accept transfers from other hospitals sooner than anticipated.
Last year, more than 100 donors were transferred there from 31 different hospitals.
Other hospitals across the state, particularly in smaller communities, did not have the resources during the public health emergency to fulfill donor wishes.
The center is a partnership between University Health and Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, the federally designated nonprofit that facilitates deceased organ transplants throughout South and Central Texas.
This partnership also extends to UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio Eye Bank and GenCure, affiliated with the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center.
Milton said because the Center For Life is licensed independently from the hospital system and has its own ICU and operating rooms, it was shielded from some of the constraints on resources that other hospitals with transplant programs felt.
According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, there are more than 107,000 Americans on the national waiting list.
Patients often wait years for a new organ. Every day, 17 people die waiting.
Milton said the center was able to handle the procurement of donated organs that might have been lost during that period. It is the only one in South Texas with equipment that can keep livers warm, using a new technology to save organs that otherwise wouldn’t be viable for transplant.
In one room at the center, a staff member kept close watch over nearly a dozen small perfusion machines, continuously pumping a cold solution to help preserve kidneys.
Staff joked that they dated themselves by naming the devices after bands like The Cure, The Ramones, Depeche Mode, Iron Maiden and Tears for Fears.
“They hold the most precious cargo,” Milton said, pointing to a pair of kidneys hooked up to devices. “The average wait for one of these kidneys is five years, and the average life expectancy on dialysis is five years.”
The center also has four intensive-care beds for ventilated donors who have been declared brain dead, two operating rooms equipped with 360-degree cameras for organ recovery, a tissue recovery room, a research lab and a private lounge for families whose loved ones are donating their organs.
The facility features a biorepository, a library that stores information from people who have consented to participate in research. About 18 new samples are added each month.
“We have a lot of dreams of building that out,” Milton said.
Last week, the alliance announced a new vision statement: An organ for every person on the waiting list.
Spokeswoman Clarissa Thompson said they plan on creating a triage unit with five new coordinator positions that will focus on managing patient referrals.
In-house coordinators will also be hired to work in San Antonio, Austin and McAllen. The additions will allow clinical teams to focus on patient evaluation and donor management, she said, ultimately saving more lives.
“As our organization grows, we want to remind ourselves and the community about what we stand for, and that’s providing lifesaving organs for the thousands of children and adults on the waiting list,” said Joseph Nespral, president of the alliance.