The Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Team at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center has received the “Excellence in Life Support Award” from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), an international consortium of centers offering ECMO services.

ECMO is one of the most advanced forms of life support available to patients experiencing acute failure of the cardio-respiratory system. ECMO allows time for the patient’s lungs or heart to heal by using a heart-lung machine to oxygenate and purify the blood outside the body over a period of time.

The award recognizes those centers that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to a standard of evidence-based processes and quality measures, staff training and continuing education, patient satisfaction and on-going clinical research. Le Bonheur Children’s is one of the few centers to receive the award since its inception in 2006.

ELSO is a consortium of health care professionals and scientists dedicated to the development and evaluation of novel therapies for support of failing organ systems.