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performed, the first transplant was performed on January 28, 1974.Scottie Leftwridge, age 38 who today works for Howard University Hospital, was the first transplant recipient. He is alive and well after more than three years. The first Kidney obtained for renal allotransplantation at howard was provided through a collaborative organ-sharing program from the Bethesda Naval Hospital. The cooperation the Bethesda Naval Hospital Transplant Team, headed Dr. Ron Filo, was vital to the success of this transplantation endeavor as the kidney had to be preserved for about 36 hours prior to the transplant. Bethesda Naval hospital sent the kidney to Howard in a kidney-preserving machine. The first kidney transplant at the old Freedmenn's Hospital was followed by many others. In April 1975, Freedmen's Hospital was closed and its facilities were moved to the new 500-bed ,ultramodern Howard University Hospital. 
   Two unusual transplants for howard university Hospital took place in February and September 1975. In February 1975, two brothers traveled from India to Howard where one brother gave a kidney to the other whose kidneys had ceased to function. The hospital donated its services as well as the services of the dialysis and transplant teams and used the operation as a teaching case for its medical students. Today, both brothers are alive and well. 
   On September 30, 1975, howard's first transplant on caucasians was performed on a brother and sister who had identical matches. Both were in their 50's. The brother, who was the recipient, had been refused by a Cleveland clinic on ground that he was too old and too sick to receive a kidney transplant since he suffered from extreme arteriosclerosis. he was brough to the Howard University Hospital and was felt to be a high-risk candidate, but nonetheless, one wh should be given the opportunity for a renal transplant if he was willing to accept the risk. he was willing and stated that he would do anything to improve the quality of his life, even at the risk of death. Without guarantee and with informed consent, he and his sister underwent the transplant operations. Both are alive and well as of this writing (June 1977). 
   Since Howard's first transplant in January 1974, 37 patients have received 43 kidney transplants. Twenty-six of these patients are alive, 19 with functional kidneys. Our one-year cadaver donor/recipient survival and function rates are 75 percent and 60 percent, respectively. These are above the national average for whites of 70 percent and 50 percent, in spite of recent reports indicating that the one-year survival of kidney transplants for blacks is 33 percent. Seventy-rive percent of the kidneys donated are from cadavers.
   Much of the hospital's success with cadaver kidneys can be attributed to the use of antilymphocyte gobulin, which helps fight rejection of the new organ by the transplanted patients. Howard was the first hospital in this area to use the drug and is now conducting research to further refine its use. The jDepartment of Pharmacy, under the direction of Mr. James C. Burgess and Mr. Robert L. Malone, was helpful in obtaining and using this experimental drug. 
   Howard also uses group therapy as a form of rehabilitation for its transplant patients. The Center employs a rehabilitation counselor and a social worker, both of whom work with the patients before and after surgery in an effort to assist them in adjusting to the psychological effect of having someone else's kidneya—often a problem with such patients. In the group therapy sessions, patients help each other in their adjustments after surgery as well as during the preoperative waiting period. 
   The transplant expertise is provided by a team consisting of three nephorologists, three transplant surgeons, a pediatric surgeon, three general surgeons, a transplant social worker, vocational and rehabilitation counselors, dietitians, and dialysis and nephrology nurses. This breadth of expertise gives the capability of transplanting other organs such as the pancreas and liver. 
   In spite of its initial success, the transplant program continued to function unsactioned until Dr. George Jones, Chief of the Division of Urology and Dr. Jesse Barber, Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery became involved in its fight for certification. They petitioned supporters of Howard University, at all levels, to make them aware of the transplant activity at the University and the injustices that Howard was suffering in not being certified. The persons who were involved in consulting and communicating with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the local press regarding the unfair treatment of the hospital were: Senator Edward Brooke (R-Mass.); Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (D-NY); Congressman Carl D. Perkins (D-Ky); Congressman Walter Fauntroy (D-DC); Congressman Louis Stokes (D-Ohio); Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass); Congressman Charles Diggs (D-Mich); Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY); Senator Birch Bayh (D-Ind); Senator Charles Matthias (R-MD); Tally Holmes, Co-Chairman of Precincts of the Republican Party of D.C.; Dr. Frank Lloyd of Indianapolis; Senator Glen Beall (R-Md); Washington Post medical reporter Victor Cohen; WTOP TV news reporter Eldridge Spearman; Paul R. Hathaway and Patricia A. Apaulding, Director and Assistant for Publications respectively, of the Howard University Department of University Relations and Publications; Daisy Fitts 
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of the Howard university Hospital Office of Public Relations; The Washington Regional Medical Program under the leadership of Vaughan Choate and Dr. Martin Levy; the hospital administrations and medical staffs of Georgetown University, George Washington University, Washington Hospital Center, Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval hospitals; the Medico-Chirurigical Association; the Women's Auxillary of Howard University Hospital; the Alpha Chapter of the Chi Eta Phi Nursing Sorority; and the National Medical Asociation. 
   Because of the efforts of the supporters of the Hospital and the success of the transplant service, Senator Edward Brooke (R-Mass), a Howard alumnus who played a major role in the breakthrough, received a letter on November 14, 1975, from James B. Caldwell, commissioner of Social Security, which stated, "A review of the latest available statistical data clearly establishes that Howard University Hospital is making a much needed contribution to the Metropolitan Washington transplant service." This final approval made Howard University eligible for reimbursement of over one-half million dollars in retroactive payments. Certification was made effective on July 1, 1973, when federal reimbursement for kidney services was started. 
   Certification meant that the hospital would receive in the range of $20-30,000 for every transplant if the patient's course was uncomplicated and as much as $100,000 if their were complications. The stigma that had been associated with the uncertified status was thus removed. With certification of the Transplant Center and public acceptance of its legitimate program, referrals from all states in the United States and from other 

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