Hines VA Hospital Completes 100th Kidney Transplant

The 73-year-old U.S. Air Force Veteran from Peoria, Illinois, was awaiting transplantation from a non-VA transplant center since 2018. In March 2022, he began services through Hines VA's Transplant Program and was able to receive a transplant nine months later.

VA transplant centers allow Veterans to dual list with non-VA transplant centers. Wait time accumulated at a non-VA kidney transplant center can be transferred to a VA hospital, like Hines VA, which may expedite transplantation.

Hines VA completed its first kidney transplants in late 2020, becoming the eighth VA Kidney Transplant Program in the country. In 2021, it completed 36 kidney transplants, the most of any VA transplant center that year. 

On June 16, 2022, Hines VA completed its first living donor kidney transplant. The program completed three living donor transplants and 64 total transplants in 2022. 

"The growth of the program has really exceeded all of our expectations," said Dr. Geraldine Zingraf, program administrator. "Last year, we completed 36 transplants, and this year we nearly doubled that number. With the addition of the living donor program, we are so happy that we are providing a high quality, much-needed service for the Veterans that have come to see us from across the nation." 

Learn more about VA's transplant programs at www.VA.gov/Health/Services/Transplant 

 

About Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital

Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, located 12 miles west of downtown Chicago on a 147-acre campus, offers primary, extended and specialty care to veteran patients in the Chicago area. We are the largest VA in the state of Illinois, where more than a million veterans reside. The hospital treats more than 44,000 veterans from World War II through the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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