Adena Health recognized by Lifeline of Ohio for efforts supporting organ, tissue and placenta donation

CHILLICOTHE, OH (October 8, 2024) – Organ, tissue, and placenta donation has often been called “the gift of life.”

For its role in helping families looking to provide that gift to others, the health system received three award nominations from Lifeline of Ohio as part of the organization’s Champions of Hope recognition program. Intensivist Sam Nobilucci, DO, was nominated in the physician champion category, Adena Regional Medical Center was nominated in the Placenta Hospital Champion category, and Adena OB/GYN was nominated for the second straight year in the OB/GYN Practice Champion category – a category it won a year ago.

The Champions of Hope program is a way for Lifeline of Ohio to recognize hospitals and community partners and affiliates that support its mission of promoting and enhancing organ and tissue donation. This year, 145 nominations were received across 17 categories, more than double the number of nominees received in 2023.

A celebratory gala was held in Columbus over the weekend, and while Adena didn’t come away with any awards, the health system’s attendees left the event inspired by the achievements of their colleagues, reaffirming their commitment to supporting patients’ desires to donate life.

Dr. Nobilucci said Adena’s relationship with Lifeline of Ohio has experienced an organic growth over recent years as like-minded individuals with a love for the community and for patient care have come together. That passion for doing the best they can to uphold the wishes of patients and their families has contributed to the development of that relationship.

“We want to make sure we are handling this precious gift our organ donors are presenting with the utmost compassion and dignity and also making sure we are instituting the most rigorous scientific standards and protocols to make sure we are handling this gift to the best of our ability so it can go to those recipients who are going to benefit from it,” Dr. Nobilucci said.

Kacy Walker, with Lifeline of Ohio, said the compassion and professionalism shown by Dr. Nobilucci and across Adena in general has helped patients who fall victim to tragic circumstances and their families provide that gift of life to others.

A clear divide is kept in place by the two organizations between the patient care and organ donation functions. Lifeline of Ohio has family service staff that helps open the lines of communication with families of potential organ and tissue donors to make sure they understand the donation process.

“We want the families to know the hospital staff is always in there doing everything they can for the patient,” Walker said. “We put the responsibility on our team to have the donation conversation because we want to maintain that dividing line between us and the health care team that has exhausted every avenue and done everything they could in supporting the patient.”

“That delineation is so important because my focus, my dedication, my responsibility is to my patient from the moment they are brought into the hospital and ICU,” Dr. Nobilucci added. “Up until the very moment the patient is no longer mine to take care of, my entire focus is on their well-being, comfort, and dignity. When it becomes evident that I’m not able to help my patient any longer, then we have to change the conversation.”

Walker said Lifeline of Ohio has a large group of volunteers who serve as ambassadors for donation across the organization’s service area that includes 38 counties in Ohio and two in West Virginia. Many of those are recipients of organs who gained a new lease on life thanks to organ donation.

While their stories are inspirational, it’s those told by many donor families that show the impact providing the gift of life can have.

“Some of the most impactful stories I hear are about how amazing the life-saving is, but they come from those families who have come back and shared the stories of their loved ones,” she said. “They walked away that day broken-hearted, but also knowing that they can continue to talk about their loved ones and this amazing gift they gave.”

Placenta donation is another area that has seen a strong partnership between Adena and Lifeline of Ohio.

Normally, the placenta, umbilical cord, and amniotic membrane are discarded following a birth, their purpose providing essential needs for a developing fetus having been fulfilled. The placental material provided by donors, rather than being thrown away, can be processed into an allograft that can be used to help others in the healing of acute and chronic wounds and other maladies such as burns, skin cancer, scar revisions, diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and other conditions. Each placenta can produce an average of 25 grafts, which play a natural biologic role in enhancing natural wound healing.

Walker praised both Adena OB/GYN and Adena Regional Medical Center for their work with the placenta donation program.

“They have just done phenomenal work,” she said. “I think there was one month in which they acquired 11 placentas from donors, which is probably one of the highest numbers for a month among all of our participating organizations.”

In August of 2022, Lifeline of Ohio representatives visited ARMC for a celebration when the hospital reached 100 placenta donations, becoming one of the first in the program to hit that milestone. Then, in 2023, Adena OB/GYN was awarded the Champions of Hope honor for OB/GYN practice.