12 Transplants in 10 Days
When an organ becomes available, there’s no limit to the lengths that Dr. Patricia Sheiner and her team will go to locate a patient waiting for a transplant.
They’ve had patients paged in movie theaters and grocery stores and have called local police departments to track them down.
“Getting an organ is like winning the lotto,” said Sheiner, director of transplant for Hartford Hospital. “If you miss one, the next one available may not be yours.”
Over 10 days in April, Sheiner and her team performed five liver and six kidney transplants as well as a heart transplant. The staff typically performs about 60 kidney, 20 liver and 15 heart transplants a year.
Patricia Sheiner, MD
Medical Director, Hartford Hospital Transplant Program
Transplantation requires the efforts of the entire hospital, including the operating room, social workers, psychologists, quality specialists, the blood bank, the tissue lab, anesthesiologists … a host of departments and people. “Transplants can’t be done without an entire hospital supporting them,” Sheiner said. “It really takes a village. We have tremendous support here, and our patients become part of our family.”