Organ-Sharing group gets $1 million grant

By A.J. Hostetler

Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

October 21, 2005

'Round the clock, computers at the United Network for Organ Sharing crunch extensive information on nearly 90,000 patients waiting for an organ transplant, trying to match them to the few organs available.

Although most of the runs through the waiting list last less than a minute, at times it can take computers as long as six minutes to find the most appropriate recipient.

"Any gain in . . . speed of the matching process is a gain to a person's life," said Blaine Hess of UNOS.

Hess and his information-technology colleagues are getting some help. UNOS announced yesterday that it has received a $1 million grant from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation to upgrade the network's information technology.

Richard DeVos is a co-founder of Amway Corp., former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, owner of the Orlando Magic basketball team and a heart-transplant recipient.

The grant will allow UNOS to expand its current computer-operations lab and construct a computer-testing lab in a vacant floor of its Richmond headquarters.

Under a federal contract, UNOS manages the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, maintaining the national list of patients waiting for organ transplantation as well as the computerized placement center that matches donors and recipients.

With the new lab, UNOS can upgrade its equipment and test new software without halting its urgent work of matching and distributing organs.

"The lab will ensure UNOS' ability to continually refine and upgrade the tools and technologies needed for optimal wait-list management, organ matching and distribution, and fail-safe operation of the national transplant database," UNOS Executive Director Walter Graham said in a statement.

The grant will allow UNOS to hire about 10 new IT personnel to conduct applications research, development and testing as well as to repair and maintain existing equipment.

In 1999, UNOS launched its latest computer-network system, UNet, an interactive system for organ matching, data collection and management. Every transplant hospital, organ-procurement organization and tissue-matching laboratory in the nation is linked to UNet, making it the community's "backbone" for sharing organs and sharing information.

With the grant money, UNOS plans to increase its server capacity by three times, allowing its staff to evaluate new equipment and software prior to making changes to UNet or the accepting system, DonorNet.

Most runs involve matching those who need a kidney with a donated organ. UNOS' computers conduct about 40 kidney runs a day. Each takes an average of about 150 seconds, but sometimes special factors increase that to as much as six minutes, according to Hess. With the ability to test new software and equipment, UNOS hopes to trim that time perhaps by half, he said.

The faster an organ can be matched, the faster it can be transplanted. Many organs can last just hours outside the body before they must be transplanted, and recipients who get their organs sooner do better after the transplant.

The lab and related operations areas at UNOS will be renamed the Richard DeVos Transplant Technology Center. Construction on the new lab should be finished next spring.

Nationally, 89,854 people were on the waiting list yesterday afternoon, but only about 1 in 3 patients -- about 27,000 -- will receive the needed transplant.

Contact A.J. Hostetler at (804) 649-6355 or ahostetler@timesdispatch.com

Copyright © 2005 Media General Inc.

This article posted November 5, 2005.