National leaders in organ donation, transplantation and federal policy, are headed to Little Rock in September to share their new vision of hope for the thousands waiting for a transplant.

The Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA), UAMS, Arkansas Children's Hospital and Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock, will jointly sponsor the "Arkansas Donation and Transplantation Summit" on Sept. 8 at the Embassy Suites Hotel.

According to Mike Hudson, Hospital Development Manager at ARORA, the summit will focus on an array of topics related to organ donation and transplantation including declaration of brain death, consent and advanced practice in adult and pediatric donors. The goals of these informational sessions are: to ensure that potential donors are not being missed; that donors are medically managed with the latest advanced practice guidelines; and to increase the numbers of organs transplanted. Currently nearly 100,000 individuals are on the waiting list for an organ transplant.

"During the past 30 months, and concurrent with the national implementation of the 'Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative,' the number of deceased organ donors nationwide has increased dramatically, and this upward trend continues," Hudson said.

Building on this unprecedented growth in organ donation, the departments of Health and Human Services/Health Resources and Services Administration (HHS/HRSA), which sponsored the donation breakthrough collaborative, launched a new initiative, focusing on increasing organ utilization.

Darlene Christiansen, Director of Hospital Accreditation for The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and Katie Goryl, MHP, will speak on new certification programs for donor hospitals and transplant centers. Christiansen and Goryl will lead breakout sessions along with Dennis Wagner from HRSA and Mike Perkins, Vice President of Patient Services for Baptist Health Medical Center Little Rock.

Rear Admiral Kenneth Moritsugu, MD, Deputy Surgeon General of the United States will be the keynote speaker. Other distinguished presenters will be, Thomas Nakagawa, MD, Pediatric Intensivist form Wake Forrest University; Anthony D'Alessandor, MD, Executive Director of University of Wisconsin Hospital Organ Procurement Organization; Michael Moncure, MD, Trauma Surgeon from the University of Kansas; Kelly Rynum, Executive Director of Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency; and Helen W. Bottenfied, R.N., Co-Chairman of the National Transplantation Breakthrough Collaborative.

For more information visit www.arora.org and click on the Arkansas Organ Donation and Transplantation link.