Assembling a Portland transplant team has been something Providence has been working at during the past year. Starting in July, a waitlist of transplant candidates will be formed. The chances of those on the list obtaining a transplant will depend primarily on the availability of donor hearts.
Providence Heart Institute’s executive medical director, Dr. Dan Oseran was quoted on KATU saying:
“....2,500 hearts a year are transplanted in this country and the demand is far beyond that in terms of patients who could benefit from a heart transplant."
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Six advanced heart failure specialists have been hired by Providence St. Vincent Medical Center with a seventh scheduled to join the team in August. According to Oseran, the Providence team could realistically in the first year do 10 to 15 transplants.
After the transplant program was halted at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Providence made the announcement in March of 2019 that it would begin its own heart transplant program in Portland. After the closure of the OHSU program and before its resumption in March 2020, transplant patients had to travel to Washington or California for heart transplants.
Providence St. Vincent is building 15 more critical care unit beds in preparation for more heart failure patients.