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August 09, 2020 in Industry & Innovation, News, Our Partners

Congratulations to the 2019 Hospital Partners of the Year!

Every year, we recognize those who have gone above and beyond for their dedication and service to the mission of organ, eye and tissue donation. We are pleased to honor Laura Deering (Mayo Clinic) and Rennae Houle-Burns (Essentia St. Mary’s Medical Center) as 2019 Hospital Partners of the Year!

Two women holding glass awards for Hospital Partner of the Year 2019
Laura Deering with Mayo Clinic (pictured left) and Rennae Houle-Burns with Essentia St. Mary’s (pictured right)

Our success is dependent on a trusted network of partnerships with more than 270 health care organizations and hospitals. Together, we ensure every donor and family that wants to donate one’s organs, eyes and tissues has the opportunity to do so. With champions like Laura and Rennae, donation is possible. Learn more about both honorees below.

About Laura Deering, Mayo Clinic

Choosing Laura for this award was an easy decision; her list of accomplishments is long. Some of those included:

  • Advocating for LifeSource to have electronic access to Mayo’s EHR and other unique privileges and access that support collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and LifeSource.
  • Developing the Enterprise Epic Organ Procurement module for Epic.
  • Serving as Mayo’s Service Line Manager for over 110 Organ Procurement non-staff users.
  • Providing 24/7 and 365 service for help desk calls and site-specific issues.
  • Serving as secretary of Mayo’s Organ, Tissue and Eye Donation Committee.

Thank you for your leadership, Laura!

About Rennae Houle-Burns, Essentia St. Mary’s Medical Center

As donation chair, Rennae has championed some of the most ambitious hospital-driven advocacy initiatives LifeSource has seen. She advocates for donors and their families in every setting. She constantly seeks ways to improve collaborative processes, communication and ability to care for donors and their families in the most meaningful and compassionate ways.

“Rennae gets the right people at the table, so real dialogue can happen and real progress can be made. Her tenderness flows with such grace to donor families. She brings so many people so much hope and healing through intimate and genuine interactions. Rennae is just generally a wonderful leader who makes time for each of her OVER 100 direct reports to have opportunities to grow and be recognized. I am so fortunate to have her as not only my primary contact at St. Mary’s, but as a friend.”

– Katelyn Baker, Clinical Hospital Coordinator

We really can’t thank Laura and Rennae enough for the work they both do daily to save lives through organ, eye and tissue donation!