Congratulations to LifeCenter Northwest’s latest LifeSaver Award winner, Cammie Rome, RN! This award honors and recognizes those who demonstrate a commitment to improving donation outcomes and culture through their actions, time and energy.

Rome, who works on the Progressive and Critical Care unit at Skagit Valley Hospital, is an organ donation advocate whose passion for patient care was exemplified through her efforts to initiate and implement a hospital Honor Walk policy on behalf of staff, donors and their families.

“This award is quite an honor to receive. Being an advocate for organ donation is a passion of mine. The idea of the honor walk came up at a unit based council meeting with another coworker suggesting we do something like that here. I volunteered to look into it,” Rome said.

“Cammie proactively reached out to me about the necessary steps to create the policy,” said Tiffany McKellar, a LifeCenter Northwest hospital development program manager. “I have no doubt that donors and their families will be treated with the utmost respect and honor, in part because of Cammie’s hard work to get this policy finalized.” Rome, having never created an official hospital policy before, shared her motivation to move this effort forward with her management team. “I am thankful for all those who guided me with writing the protocol and sprucing it up. I’m also thankful for the support of the unit and administration for working together to make this happen,” she said.

“My last patient [and donor] I cared for, while the LifeCenter Northwest team was prepping, got a really good head to toe bath, where I washed and braided her hair, and gave her a new gown,” shared Rome. “No matter her past history, or why she was here, this patient is a hero, and deserves to go to the operating room clean with a nice hairdo. I scrubbed her hands and feet and tucked her in, so she looked peaceful and comfortable for her final journey. A lot of times, these small acts are behind the scenes and do not seem like enough. What if we could do more?”

We join LifeCenter Northwest in thanking Cammie and her team for everything they do to honor donors and their families through the power of organ donation.