Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth Announces Opening of Transplant Unit
Contact: Mary Johnson, 817-922-7088 or Sunny Drenik, 817-922-7100Email: Maryjohn@BaylorHealth.edu or Sunnydr@BaylorHealth.edu
(FORT WORTH, July 10, 2006) -Currently, there are 88,338 candidates waiting for transplants in the U. S. The state of Texas, alone, has 6,591 transplant candidates. There have been 99 liver, 193 kidney and pancreas transplants performed at Baylor All Saints Medical Center (BASMC) at Fort Worth, since the program's inception in 2002. Baylor All Saints is the only hospital in Tarrant County to perform liver and pancreas transplants. In order to meet the local and regional needs of our community, BASMC announced today that there will be a Sneak Preview of the Martha Sue Parr Transplant Unit on Thursday, July 13 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
BASMC's new 27-bed transplant unit will accommodate acutely ill patients who need to remain in the hospital for a significant amount of time while waiting for or recovering from transplant surgery. The unit is located on the 8th floor of the Martin Tower.
"The transplant team at Baylor All Saints is absolutely thrilled to be able to open this new, advanced transplant inpatient unit. This wonderful addition to our Fort Worth community is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our nursing staff", said Marlon Levy, M.D., Surgical Director of the Baylor All Saints Medical Center Transplant Program on the medical staff at BASMC. "We are deeply grateful for the support of our philanthropic community and for the trust our patients place in the Transplant Program at Baylor All Saints".
An education center, private consultation rooms, a support group meeting room and family waiting areas will also be located on this unit. In addition, the BASMC Transplant Program offers evaluation services, living kidney donation coordination, long-term follow-up care, housing coordination and financial services.
"Our patient outcomes consistently exceed national averages as determined by the United Network for Organ Sharing", said Steven R. Newton, President, BASMC. "We are pleased to be able to provide Tarrant County and surrounding counties with this much-needed service".
This expansion is part of a $29 million expansion project that has added four new floors to the Martin Tower. The All Saints Health Foundation has raised more than $5.8 million in order to make this transplant unit a reality.
The not-for-profit Baylor All Saints Medical Centers serve more than 100,000 people annually through two hospitals, numerous primary care physician centers and practices, a rehabilitation and fitness center, and a variety of medical specialties. Programs of excellence in cardiology, transplantation, neurosciences, oncology and women's services form the heart of the hospitals' services. All Saints joined Baylor Health Care System in January 2002. All Saints Health Foundation, a separately incorporated not-for-profit organization, raises and manages charitable funds to support Baylor All Saints Medical Centers. For fiscal year 2005, Baylor Health Care System reported $314 million in community benefit to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Physicians are members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Health Care System's subsidiary, community or affiliated medical centers and are neither employees nor agents of those medical centers, Baylor All Saints Medical Center or Baylor Health Care System.