ETMC Tyler Transplant Program Honored

TYLER — East Texas Medical Center Tyler’s kidney transplant program was honored recently at the Seventh National Learning Congress, where it received a bronze award from the Department of Health and Human Services. The award ceremony in Grapevine acknowledged hospitals, programs, and individuals from across the nation in the areas of donation and transplantation.

The transplant division analyzed the 266 individual kidney transplant programs. The award process measured exceptional outcomes in post-transplant survival rates, wait-list mortality rates and deceased donor transplantation rates. No programs in the nation received a gold award, 15 received a silver award and ETMC Tyler was one of 56 programs that received a bronze award. That means only 26 percent of the kidney programs in the country were honored, which included ETMC.

“This award is a tribute to our outstanding kidney transplantation team,” commented Dr. Steven Potter, medical director of the ETMC Transplant Center. “We are honored to receive this recognition. Since the program began in 1987, ETMC has performed 607 kidney transplants.