Sculpture/Memorial
 
Facilities Management staff at Southeast are assisting officials with Mid-America Transplant on the sculpture project that is expected to be completed in April 2023 during Organ Donor Month.
 
When completed, the sculpture will feature a boy raising a candle in remembrance of donors. It is being created by master sculptor Don Wiegand of Chesterfield, Missouri, and will model a similar memorial at St. Bernard’s Medical Center in Jonesboro, Arkansas. That sculpture is based on the original Donor Memorial Monument located at Mid-America Transplant's headquarters in St. Louis. 
 
Throughout his career, Wiegand has been commissioned to sculpt and build several monuments for organizations, including his stainless steel, 14-foot sculpture in the round of the Virgin Mary at the Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church, in Laurie, Missouri, and his monument of Winston Churchill delivering his Iron Curtain speech, located at the Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri. Other pieces of his artwork, such as “The Gift of Life” and “The Eternal Priesthood” may be found in St. Louis, Missouri.
 
Wiegand also adapted some of his pieces for minting into medals, the most famous of which is the Spirit of Hope Award at the Pentagon and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia.

“At Mid-America Transplant, we are stewards of lifesaving gifts through the selfless act of organ, tissue, and eye donation. More than 40 people in southeast Missouri were organ, tissue or eye donors last year. For those families left behind, donation brings a sense of peace, knowing their loved one’s life continues in another,” said Diane Brockmeier, president and chief executive officer of Mid-America Transplant. “We are honored to commission and install this donor memorial to recognize and celebrate the donors and families who made the heroic decision to give the gift of life. We hope it also inspires others to consider donation.”
 
Classroom Naming/Nursing Scholarships
 
In recognition of the organization’s ongoing support, Southeast also has named its indoor kiln area in the new Arts Complex at 340 S. Frederick, in perpetuity for Mid-America Transplant, a space that will forever honor all organ, tissue and eye donors from across the Heartland. Additionally, Mid-America Transplant’s support will provide scholarships to be awarded to Southeast nursing students in fall 2024.
 
Dr. Carlos Vargas, president of Southeast, and his wife Pam have visited Mid-America Transplant and believe deeply in its mission.

“Pam and I would like to offer our sincere, heartfelt appreciation to Mid-America Transplant for their significant gifts to Southeast,” said Dr. Carlos Vargas, president of Southeast Missouri State University. “From partnering to drive donor registration during our Green Up Games with Athletics to now installing what we know will be a magnificent, meaningful sculpture while also impacting our nursing students’ knowledge to better assist families making decisions about organ donation, we are proud to continue to work together to recognize those who’ve made the selfless decision to give life to those in need.”

Southeast-Mid-America Transplant Partnership

The gifts from Mid-America Transplant are an extension of a partnership that began with Southeast Athletics several years ago following the tragic death of the late Southeast student- athlete, Meg Herndon. That relationship expanded in spring 2019 when Southeast senior nursing students in the “Introduction to Critical Care” course piloted a first-of-its-kind online program on tissue and organ donation. The initiative, “Organ and Tissue Donor Education for Undergraduate Nursing Students,” was made possible thanks to a generous grant awarded to Southeast by Mid-America Transplant. The online program provides nurse educators with current, comprehensive information about organ and tissue donation for inclusion in nursing school curriculums.

Dr. Linda Heitman, retired Southeast nursing professor and project director for the project, submitted a proposal for the online learning platform. Heitman originally completed her graduate research on transplantation at Saint Louis University. Following her graduation, she served on the Mid-American Transplant Professional Advisory Board and worked to promote organ procurement at Southeast Hospital, now SoutheastHEALTH, before joining the Southeast faculty 24 years ago.

About Mid-America Transplant
Mid-America Transplant enables adults and children to receive lifesaving gifts through organ and tissue donations. For more than 40 years, Mid-America Transplant has facilitated and coordinated organ, tissue and eye donation, and now serves 84 counties covering eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and northeast Arkansas that together are home to 4.7 million people. It saves lives by providing expert and compassionate care for organ donors, recipients and families, and transforms the clinical processes required to recover and transplant organs and tissues. Mid-America Transplant was the first such organization in the U.S. to use an in-house operating room for organ recovery and pioneered innovative models of increasing donor registry enrollment to provide organs and tissues to those in need.  It is federally designated as one of 58 such organizations in the U.S. and is the first organ and tissue procurement organization to be recognized as a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence, and the only two-time recipient. For more information, visit www.midamericatransplant.org.