Description
Headquartered in downtown Buffalo and established in 1981, Upstate New York Transplant Services is among the leading procurement organizations in the United States, and is one of the only eight centers nationwide to house laboratory services, and organ, tissue and eye procurement in one location. With the addition of Community Blood Services, Upstate New York Transplant Services has become the first organization of its kind nationwide. Upstate New York Transplant Services operates as a non-profit serving the eight counties of Western New York and works to assist donor families, coordinate the donation process and increase knowledge and awareness within the community regarding transplantation.
Upstate New York Transplant Services routinely has helped to secure higher rates of donation in Western New York than the national average. When approached following the death of a loved-one for organ donation, Western New York families give consent nearly 90% - the national average is roughly 60%. Due to this generosity, Upstate New York Transplant Services has ranked in the top ten procurement organizations nationwide in terms of rates of consent for seven of the past eight years.
As recently as 1997, Upstate New York Transplant Services had just 200 donors; in 2007 the organization surpassed 1,000. In the summer of 2007, Upstate New York Transplant Services added community blood banking services - bringing both a significant savings to area hospitals and assurance to Western New York donors that their blood donations remain local.
The vision of UNYTS is to foster increased donations of transplantable organs and tissues and promote enhanced support services to donor families, while analyzing emerging technologies to develop future strategies that will maintain our status as a leader in the field of organ and tissue donation.
