Providence St. Mary Medical Center celebrates gift of life through organ donations | Health

At Providence St. Mary Medical Center, organ donation is a way that health care workers and patients are able to turn tragedy into hope.

With four organ donations from one person at the hospital already this year, Providence St. Mary is recognizing Donate Life Month during April and encouraging people to register as donors.

The hospital raised its Donate Life flag on Tuesday, April 1, outside its main building, 401 W. Poplar St. in Walla Walla.

“This meaningful gesture honors donors, their families, recipients and the health care professionals involved in donation and transplantation,” said Clayton Arnold, the hospital development coordinator for Cascade Life Alliance. “It also stands as a powerful symbol of hope for those awaiting life-saving transplants.”

Cascade Life Alliance is a federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization that helps hospitals coordinate and carry out organ donation from start to finish.

Last year, eight lives were saved by donations that came from Providence St. Mary patients. Cascade Life Alliance presented the hospital with the 2024 Hope Award, which recognizes high performance and effort toward organ donation outcomes.

When a patient or their family has agreed to donate, tests are done to find out the level of function of their organs and whether they are transplantable. Then, the United Network for Organ Sharing provides a list of matches based on all of the information the hospital provides.

The hospital is able to send organs to recipients as far away as the East Coast, Arnold said, which is possible because of a major technological advance — pumps that allow for longer organ preservation outside the body — that only developed within the past couple of years.

“These pumps really have changed the game in that regard,” said Intensive Care Unit Manager Patty Harmon. “Ultimately, the organs go to the recipient that needs them most, whether they’re semi-local, regional or national. We’re going to do everything we can to get that person the gift they need to continue to live.”

After Arnold’s team makes calls to transplant centers and pinpoints a destination for each donation, the transplant team flies to Walla Walla to participate in the honor walk.

 “When the patient is taken to the operating room, family and hospital staff line the hallways to honor the individual as they’re going into surgery,” Arnold said. “And then essentially, within hours, folks are receiving these life-saving gifts.”

At Providence St. Mary, Arnold’s team works mainly with the Intensive Care Unit, led by Harmon.

“Out of our hospital, we helped save quite a few lives last year,” Harmon said.

Many of the patients spend their final moments in the ICU because they are either critically injured or critically sick. Harmon said her team always tries to build a bond with the patients and their families.

“They’re really invested in knowing that this is a tragedy right in front of them, but it’s potentially going to give another family hope in life down the road,” Harmon said. “We want the patient to get better if they can, but if not, it always kind of helps them work through a bad situation knowing that someone else is going to potentially be able to survive.”