Lifechoice Donor Services Inc

Programs: Coordination/evaluation/management/recovery of organ and tissue donation:lifechoice staff is responsible for coordinating all activities related to the evaluation, management, recovery and transportation of organs and tissues recovered from donors within our designated service area hospitals. This includes: collaborating with physicians and other health care professionals to obtain authorization for organ and/or tissue donation, offer guidelines for managing organ donors in the hospital to maintain hemodynamic stability and maximize organs recovered for transplantation, arranging for the surgical recovery of authorized organs and/or tissues including working with surgical teams from outside of the service area, allocating organs based on the policies of the united network of organ sharing and other local organ sharing arrangements, ensuring safe transportation of organs to the intended transplant recipient center and tissues to the intended tissue processor. In 2016, lifechoice coordinated the recovery of 39 organ donors resulting in 127 organ transplants and 153 tissue donors providing hundreds of tissue grafts back to the community.

public (community) and professional education: designated lifechoice staff travel throughout the service area to present educational programs to the community in the form of lectures, informational health fairs, and a variety of other activities. These activities may be solicited or in response to a request for information. Specific groups targeted may include clergy/religious groups, civic organizations, and schools (middle, high, & secondary). In 2016, lifechoice provided 175 educational programs to the community and 338 professional education (hospital development) programs.

donor family services: lifechoice staff is responsible for meeting the needs of organ and tissue donor families through communication and subsequent bereavement care. This care includes: donation outcome letters, opportunity for each family to be part of a formalized two-year bereavement program and/or support group, offer of additional information about donation through educational programs and/or attendance at the annual donor family gathering, opportunity to receive additional periodic information about the recipients of their family member's organs/tissues and formal program to facilitate communication between donor families and transplant recipients. In 2016, over 278 families were enrolled in the donor family services program.