Wednesday, April 24, 2002

Piedmont Hospital announces new living donor leave benefit

Piedmont Hospital, and its affiliate Fayette Community Hospital, announced it is offering its employees who become living donors a paid leave of absence, making it the first hospital in Georgia and one of the first organizations in the nation to offer its employees the additional benefit. It includes up to 30 days of paid leave for organ donors and up to seven days of paid leave for bone marrow donors.

"Piedmont Hospital is committed to impacting organ donation, and we hope that our employees will consider this life-saving option that will help so many Georgians on the transplant waiting list," said John D. Whelchel, M.D., director of Organ Transplant Services at Piedmont Hospital.

Piedmont's announcement coincides with State House Bill 1049, which would offer public officers and state employees a leave of absence with pay for serving as an organ or bone marrow donor. Representatives Childers, Millar, Stephens, Henson and Orrick introduced the bill. According to the bill, a living donor may give any one of the following: single kidney, lobe of a lung, segment of a liver or portion of a pancreas. The bill passed through the House unanimously Feb. 4 and has recently been under consideration in the Senate.

In Georgia, the National Kidney Foundation of Georgia approved a similar employee policy in January of 2000. Piedmont is the second organization in Georgia to have a living donor leave policy.

"We're proud that Piedmont is leading this initiative in the medical community," said Chris Starr, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation of Georgia. "We hope other hospitals and Georgia businesses will follow Piedmont's lead to help reduce the transplant waiting list both locally and nationally."

Piedmont Hospital performed above the national average in living donor kidney transplants with an average of 36 percent for 2001. Comparatively, 485 transplants were performed in Georgia in 2000, and 22 percent were made possible through living donor transplants. Piedmont has performed kidney transplants since 1986, and its physicians pioneered laparoscopic removal of the kidney, which shortens recovery times and in turn potentially improves the number of potential living donors.

"Piedmont Hospital performed 120 transplants last year and 43 involved living donors," said Whelchel. "We hope this legislation offering paid leave will make it easier for individuals to become living donors."

Currently, more than 1,300 Georgians are on the national organ transplant waiting list including nearly 1,000 who are awaiting kidney transplants. Nationally, the list includes more than 78,000 people. The number of cadaver donations has remained constant for the last 10 years,while the number of patients requiring transplants has grown considerably. Patients on the waiting list may wait anywhere from one to five years for a transplant depending on the patient's blood type. More than 50,000 people nationwide await a kidney transplant. Key to offsetting these numbers is increasing the number of living donations.