Orlando Health joined forces with Doctors’ Center Hospital to create Doctors’ Center Hospital - Orlando Health – Dorado in Puerto Rico, a 105-bed acute care hospital that opened in March 2022. Since then, the partnership has expanded to include Doctors' Center Hospital Orlando Health – San Juan, Doctors' Center Hospital Orlando Health – Bayamón, Doctors' Center Hospital Orlando Health – Manatí , Doctors' Center Hospital Orlando Health – San Fernando de la Carolina and Doctors' Center Hospital Orlando Health Centros de Urgencia – Arecibo, an ambulatory diagnostic and treatment center.

"With deep familial ties to the island, Minedy brings over a decade of clinical leadership experience and a successful record of developing clinical programs alongside physicians to deliver high-quality outcomes,” said Omar Gonzalez, Vice President of Orlando Health’s Puerto Rico/Caribbean Region. “In this role, she will focus on enhancing existing medical programs and generating new clinical services with our Doctors' Center Hospital partners.”

Gift of Life Marrow Registry announced today it has donated 10,000 urgently needed swabs to Boca Raton Regional Hospital, part of Baptist Health, to aid in testing patients for COVID-19. Area hospitals, like those across the country, are short of the supplies needed to identify coronavirus cases. Gift of Life uses the swabs to test tissue type when volunteer donors join the registry to determine donor compatibility with patients batting blood diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell.

Increased Safety Protocols at Headquarters and Collection Center

Gift of Life has implemented increased health protocols at its facility. These measures include the use of telemedicine as a virtual tool to perform the required physical examinations for donors as the final step in the medical clearance process.The organization has also reduced the number of staff on-site to only those that are essential, conducting non-physical temperature checks for all individuals on entry to the facility, and increasing the sanitization of spaces throughout the donation process.

Gift of Life has implemented increased health protocols at its facility. These measures include the use of telemedicine as a virtual tool to perform the required physical examinations for donors as the final step in the medical clearance process. The organization has also reduced the number of staff on-site to only those that are essential, conducting non-physical temperature checks for all individuals upon entry, and increasing the sanitization of spaces throughout the donation process.

Since its start in 1991, Gift of Life Marrow Registry has grown to almost 372,000 individuals who have volunteered to donate blood stem cells or bone marrow to save a life. To date, Gift of Life has facilitated over 17,600 matches for those with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell, and nearly 100 other diseases, resulting in more than 3,600 transplants.

That's an impressive track record! It's fantastic to see Gift of Life adapting and evolving, not just in saving lives but also in ensuring the safety and well-being of everyone involved in the process.

Nearly 372,000 individuals stepping up to potentially save a life is a testament to the power of collective compassion. Kudos to Gift of Life for making a meaningful impact!

“We hope to learn whether immune-vital tissue match genes such as HLA help explain why some of us avoid COVID-19, while others get severe symptoms or need particular treatments,” said the study’s principal investigator Jeffrey Rosenfeld, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “Adding such key data to the fight against COVID-19, we can help solve the mystery of why it affects different people so differently.”

Root's founder, geneticist Nathaniel Pearson, PhD, noted that “because transplant registries read HLA genes better than consumer DNA tests do, a study like this can best reveal how these diverse, immune-vital genes may shape COVID-19. Gift of Life members, who have long saved lives via transplants, now show us how everyday people can help the world beat a pandemic too.”

Participants can also opt into short monthly surveys for the coming year, even if they have never had COVID-19. The researchers will study their de-identified data, to better understand how tissue match genes and other factors may figure in COVID-19 risks and outcomes.