LifeSaver Award Series: Hannah Esmeralda, RN, St. Joseph Medical Center, part of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health

Each month, LifeCenter Northwest selects a LifeSaver Award winner. This award honors and recognizes those who demonstrate a commitment to improving donation outcomes and culture through their actions, time and energy.

We are pleased to present this month’s LifeSaver Award to Hannah Esmeralda, RN, who is an OR charge nurse at St. Joseph Medical Center, part of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, in Tacoma, Wash.

During a recent donation case, Hannah went above and beyond to make donation possible. In this case, the family of the donor was supportive of donation and LifeCenter Northwest began work to place the donor’s organs.

As it happened, there was a good match for this donor’s heart, but that potential recipient was extremely sick and unstable. As such, the transplant team requested an expedited OR timeslot to ensure they could recover the heart in time to save the recipient’s life.

LifeCenter Northwest had initially been told the OR at St. Joseph Medical Center was not available on such short notice, but Hannah saw the urgency of the situation and sprang into action to make the accelerated heart recovery possible, quickly and efficiently clearing the OR time and finding a team to staff the OR.

“Hannah went above and beyond to ultimately ensure that the heart transplant could move forward,” said Tyler Russell, Senior Hospital Development Program Manager at LifeCenter Northwest. “Without even knowing it, Hannah saved the life of a complete stranger.”

In addition to the heart donation, this donor went on to donate three other organs, providing life-saving gifts to those in need. Hannah was a vital part of saving those lives, and we are proud to honor her with this LifeSaver Award.

“Receiving the LifeSaver Award is such an accomplishment, since it represents not only my efforts but also my team’s efforts to make a difference in other people’s lives,” Hannah said. “Through organ donation, people are given a second chance to live a wonderful life and pursue their dreams and goals.”