Legacy of Hope, Alabama’s Organ and Tissue Donation Alliance, has been selected to receive the Alabama Performance Excellence Award.
The Alabama Performance Excellence Award, modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, honors organizations whose recent innovations result in increased productivity and quality within the organization. The improvement efforts include formal techniques, or practices, that are capable of being shared with other organizations with the expectation they will be replicated and contribute to state and national productivity and quality improvement.
“We are proud to receive the Alabama Performance Excellence Award,” said Chris Meeks, executive director of Legacy of Hope. “This is the highest award designation given at the state level, and a major milestone for Legacy of Hope. It’s an honor to have the hard work of our entire team recognized in this manner.”
Legacy of Hope serves three transplant centers in Alabama, including University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, Children’s of Alabama and the Birmingham VA Medical Center.
More than 1,400 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant in Alabama. Legacy of Hope aims to decrease that number by educating Alabamians and raising awareness about the importance of becoming an organ donor.
“Our mission is to end the wait and the suffering by shepherding the gift of life to those in need of organ and tissue transplants,” Meeks said. “This requires us to strive to be the very best organization we can possibly be. Because of the generosity of our donors and their families, we are helping more people than ever before.”
In 2019, Legacy of Hope reached new levels of performance with 190 organ donors resulting in 585 organs transplanted, a 24 percent increase from 2018, and 520 tissue donors.
Legacy of Hope will be honored at the annual Alabama Performance Excellence Program Conference and Banquet on March 2-3 at the Hotel Capstone located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.