Eleven years ago, Charlottesville resident Robert Crouter received a heart transplant that saved his life. Now, he's giving back in honor of the deceased University student who helped him.
Crouter recently gave $26,000 to the University Heart Center to establish the William Jones Memorial Fund, an endowment for education on the importance of organ donation.
Crouter made the donation to honor William Jones, a University student from Orange County, Va., who died in 1990. Jones' parents made the decision to donate his heart and other organs and, as a result, Crouter received a heart donation that saved his life.
The fund already has grown to $52,000, thanks to a matching contribution by another donator.
"The purpose of the fund is to provide a permanent source of support for educational programs for both health professionals and patients," said Michael McKee, director of development for the University Heart Center.
The fund will be used, in part, to finance conferences on heart failure, transplant and organ donation.
McKee emphasized the importance of "educating health professionals about the needs of heart patients and understanding, too, the needs of their families."
Crouter, his wife Alyce, and Jones' parents, John and Christine Jones, attended a ceremony Nov. 2 to dedicate the fund.
The fund's work is worth doing and "it was very meaningful for us," John Jones said.
Crouter received his heart transplant 11 years ago.
"The Crouters made the gift because they were grateful for the care they were given and for the decision of the Jones'," McKee said. That decision potentially saved five lives because the parents also donated other organs, including the kidneys and liver.
"It was not really a difficult decision," John Jones said. "He was no longer with us and ... his organs could be used to benefit others."
Organ shortages are a significant problem that affects thousands of people throughout the United States.
Last year, hospitals performed 2,064 heart transplants in this country, but nearly one third of the patients on waiting lists for transplants died before a heart became available to them.
The University's Cardiopulmonary Transplant program is the largest heart transplant program in the state of Virginia and has carried out 256 transplants since its establishment in 1989.
In recent years, the University hospital has acquired advanced technology that helps prolong the lives of patients waiting for a new heart, McKee said.
"The left ventricular assist device helps the heart pump blood," he said. "But, it is a bridge therapy, not a permanent solution."
"We expect the William Jones Memorial Fund to continue to grow," McKee said. "We commonly find our patients, their families and people in the community are grateful for the care we provide, and we often benefit from the generosity of those who pass through our doors"
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