At the Colorado Hospital Association’s (CHA) Annual Conference, San Luis Valley Health was honored with the Ending the Wait Award, presented by both the Donor Alliance and CHA. The Ending the Wait Award is presented annually to honor healthcare organizations for their outstanding achievements in facilitating the gift of life through organ and tissue donation in Colorado.

Ending the Wait

The Ending the Wait Award was created by Donor Alliance and CHA to recognize the commitment of Colorado healthcare facilities to saving lives through organ and tissue donation. Donor Alliance, the federally designated organ and tissue procurement agency for Colorado and most of Wyoming, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Serving more than 5.8 million residents and more than 100 hospitals, Donor Alliance partners closely with healthcare providers to ensure the wishes of donors and their families are honored and lives are transformed through transplantation.

The Colorado Hospital Association, representing more than 100 member hospitals and health systems across the state, works alongside its members to advance health reform, promote clinical excellence, and advocate at both the state and federal levels. Through its collaboration with Donor Alliance, CHA highlights the extraordinary efforts of hospitals like SLV Health that go above and beyond to support donation and transplantation. The Ending the Wait Award is awarded based on size, trauma center designation, number of donors and organs transplanted.

SLV Health works with Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank (RMLEB) to assist with eye tissue donation. RMLEB’s mission is to, “fulfill the wishes of eye donors and their families to help another overcome blindness through transplantation and research.”

In 2024, SLV Health (both the Regional Medical Center in Alamosa and Conejos County Hospital in La Jara), recovered 19 corneal tissues from ten donors. These tissues provided sight to nine individuals around the world.

Saving Lives Through Donation

Every year, thousands of people remain on waiting lists for life-saving transplants, and many more rely on organ and tissue donations to restore their sight, mobility or health. According to the Donor Alliance, each donor can save up to 8 lives through organ donation and heal up to 75 lives through tissue donation. For more information on organ and tissue donation, visit the Donor Alliance website.