Deseret News
Intermountain Healthcare experiences record number of transplants in 2020
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Sam Hoopes
SALT LAKE CITY At 11, Sam Hoopes began taking medication for a stomach condition.
He didn’t realize then what it would lead to today, nor did he understand the number of lives it would impact.
Hoopes was the first of many successful live liver transplants performed by doctors at Intermountain Healthcare after hospitals opened back up for surgeries after COVID-19 shut down hospitals last spring. The conditions of the pandemic actually created an environment in which the organ transplant program thrived.
Intermountain reported a record 222 adult patient abdominal organ transplants in 2020, far surpassing the 186 transplants the year before, which was also a record.