The Southwest Transplant Alliance set a state record in 2015 by recovering more than 1,100 organs for its partners throughout Texas.
The Dallas-based nonprofit helped transplant a total of 1,123 organs, the first time the organ procurement organization has ever topped four figures. It makes the OPO for Region 4—which includes 11 transplant centers and 227 acute care hospitals in the Dallas area and all corners of the state—the third busiest in the country, behind ones based in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. In October, the nonprofit set a Texas record for busiest month (136).
STA and its ilk are the middle men in organ transplants; they get permission from families to donate organs. They find recipients, they connect with hospitals, they organize transportation for the surgeons, and they help assist in the organ procurement. When they can’t find a home for an organ in their own region, they start looking beyond it.
“I can talk numbers, but it’s about lives,” says Patti Niles, the president and CEO of STA. “It’s all about the lives for us.”
