Charleston, West Virginia — Recipients celebrated a record year for kidney transplant surgeries with surgeons and other staff at Charleston Regional Medical Center.
An event was held at CAMC General Hospital on Wednesday to recognize a total of 128 kidney transplants performed at CAMC in 2023.
CAMC Kidney Transplant Administrator Alice Jones said the hospital’s previous record for kidney transplants was 100 in 2022.
Jones said Wednesday was definitely a milestone worth recognizing.
“128…that’s 128 lives saved, lives changed. We just want to celebrate,” she said. “A lot of work goes into transplants, registering patients and caring for them post-transplant and during their hospital stay.”
Jones said it has grown slowly since it started in 1987 as West Virginia’s first kidney transplant program.
Wednesday’s celebration included testimonies from transplant recipients and the release of about 128 balloons outside the hospital’s main entrance.
In addition, recipients created placards to thank hospital staff for the work they have done to get to where they are today, and paraded through the hospital halls waving their placards.
They also had the opportunity to tour the different units they were taken to while they were asleep during the transplant process, as well as see what happens afterwards and all the work that goes into such a surgery.
Larry Moore was one of the kidney transplant patients who attended Wednesday’s event. He said he had been suffering from kidney problems for some time due to high blood pressure and was actually destroying his kidneys.
Moore, who had been on dialysis for two and a half years, said she was lucky to receive a kidney from a donor and said she received a call from CAMC on August 23, 2016 to come to the hospital for the transplant surgery. .
He said it was great to attend Wednesday’s event and realize how many other lives have been saved through kidney transplant surgery.
“I’m glad to know that. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’m glad to know the numbers that so many people have passed through this door to receive the gift of life.” said Moore.
Jones said he is happy to play a role, saying that when patients are waiting for a kidney transplant from a donor and undergoing dialysis, they are simply surviving, but once they receive a new kidney, they begin to grow again. Told. among them.
“Dear patients, each of you is an individual and more than just a number. We are not celebrating the numbers, we are celebrating the lives saved. We recognize all the hard work that went into it,”’ Jones said.
Additionally, the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients ranks CAMC Kidney Transplant Centers second in the nation in terms of patient transplant times within just six to eight months, rather than the national average of five to seven years. Ranked.
CAMC has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Regional Hospital and High-Performing Hospital for Renal Failure Care in 2023-2024.
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