Vision
To recognize and celebrate the world’s best ECLS programs
Mission
Leading ECLS programs to demonstrate the highest levels of education, performance, innovation, satisfaction and quality
Purpose
The ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support recognizes ECLS programs worldwide that distinguish themselves by having processes, procedures and systems in place that promote excellence and exceptional care in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
The ELSO Award for Excellence in Extracorporeal Life Support
The application is a multi-focus assessment of a quality centric ECLS Center. ECLS Centers should use ELSO guidelines and go above and beyond expectations. Centers must be experienced in patient care with established policies and procedures. They should have a comprehensive, in-depth training and education process, as well as a defined family education program. Centers must incorporate highly developed quality initiatives and continuously review processes within their program. Outcome reviews must be demonstrated as an integral component of their organization
The application is divided into seven sections:
- Systems Focus: Supply generalized institutional information
- Environmental Focus: Define the facility and equipment available for ECLS
- Workforce Focus: Describe personnel caring for the patient
- Knowledge Management: Detail specifics on ECLS Team training and competencies
- Quality Focus: Provide evidence regarding continuous quality improvement activities
- Process Optimization: Explain strategies developed from outcome and quality reviews
- Patient & Family Focus: Illustrate family education and participation in care
Our Team
The Center of Excellence Committee
Tracy Morrison, RN, BSN, MSQA, FELSO
Tracy Morrison is a Registered Nurse with a Master’s in Quality Assurance. Tracy is dedicated to transforming the depth and breadth of clinical bedside nursing. She is an ECMO Coordinator at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio and is the Quality Coordinator for the 67 bed level IIIb NICU. Tracy was awarded National Magnet Nurse of the Year for Transformational Leadership in 2021. She is a Fellow of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. Tracy has published multiple peer reviewed articles regarding extracorporeal life support, as well as chapters in the ELSO ECMO Specialist Training Manuals and the ELSO Red Books. Tracy has two sons and enjoys growing abundant flowers and vegetables. Tracy is one of the founding members of the ELSO Award and currently serves as Co-Chair of the ELSO Award of Excellence in Life Support Committee, the inaugural Chair of the ELSO Quality Committee and serves on the ELSO Steering Committee.
Barb Haney, RN, MSN, RNC-NIC, CPNP-AC, FELSO Barb Haney recently retired after 40 years of nursing at Children’s Mercy Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri. Barb was in a leadership role with the ECMO program since 1987, and actively involved in quality improvement and safety work in the Level IV NICU as well as the ECMO program. Barb has published multiple peer reviewed articles regarding extracorporeal life support, as well as chapters in the ELSO ECMO Specialist Training Manuals and the ELSO Red Book. She was recognized as a Fellow of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (FELSO) in 2017. She has been married to Mike for 46 years and has 3 adult sons. In her spare time, Barb enjoys relaxing at the lake, reading and spending time with her 4 grandkids. Barb is one of the founding members of the ELSO Award and remains an active emeritus member of the ELSO Award of Excellence in Life Support Committee
Micheal Heard, RN, FELSO Micheal Heard is a registered nurse but her entire career has been as a practicing ECMOlogist. Micheal is an ECMO & Advanced Technologies Coordinator at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She is a charter member of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization and a Fellow of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. Micheal has a long history of helping ECMO programs with education and development across the country. Micheal has published multiple peer reviewed articles regarding extracorporeal life support, as well as chapters in the ELSO ECMO Specialist Training Manual and the ELSO Red Book, 5th and 6th Edition. Micheal has been married for 30 years and has 2 children, and in her spare time enjoys reading real books and gardening. Micheal is one of the founding members of the ELSO Award and currently serves as Co-chair of the ELSO Award of Excellence in Life Support Committee.
Cory Ellis, CCP, FELSO Cory Ellis is a pediatric perfusionist and ECMO co-coordinator at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He graduated with honors from the Ohio State University where he found pediatrics and a love for college football rivalry. Cory pumps cases, is a Clinical Instructor for the MUSC and Nebraska perfusion programs and shares a management role for the Children’s Colorado ECMO team. He has been recognized as both a Fellow of Pediatric Perfusion by AmSect and a Fellow of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. In addition to his clinical and leadership responsibilities Cory serves on the editorial board for Perfusion, has published extensively in peer reviewed journals, volunteers in his community, coaches a Junior Olympic Archery Development team and works to keep up with his wife and 3 boys. Cory has been a member of the ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support Committee since 2014.
James Connelly, RRT-NPS, FELSO Jim Connelly, the first Respiratory Therapist (RRT-NPS) in the United States to receive the ELSO Fellowship, an award that acknowledges personal achievement as well as the contribution made by a profession integral to the delivery of ECMO care. He prefers those behind-the-scenes activities to benefit everyone involved, especially the patient. He has been an active member of the ECMO Community since 1990 with the inception of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s ECMO Program. Jim was a member of that inaugural class to become an ECMO specialist and primer at CHOP in 1990. He was instrumental in building the ECMO program at CHOP, becoming ECMO Center Manager in 2006. In this role, he has contributed to multiple research studies that have improved the care of children, grown the educational aspects of the program and promoted the capabilities and contributions of respiratory therapists to the field of ECMO. Jim joined the ELSO Award of Excellence Committee in 2014, representing the voice of the Respiratory Therapist and has been integral to the increasing popularity and beneficial effect of the ELSO Center of Excellence award.
Joseph Deng, MDJoe Deng is a critical care anesthesiologist and director of adult ECMO at Legacy Health in Portland, Oregon. He earned his medical degree at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He then completed postgraduate training in family medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, and critical care medicine and maintains board certifications in most of these as well as neuro-critical care and echocardiography. Joe began his ECMO journey in 2018 and is the newest addition to the Center of Excellence Committee. His professional interests include collaborative care and team dynamics, transport medicine, and ultrasound in medicine as well as the role of palliative care and ethics in the acute setting. Outside of work, he spends his time with his wife, daughter and Great Dane and enjoys doing projects around the house.