Lifegift Organ Donation Center

Programs: Procurement:as an organ procurement organization (opo), lifegift staff is available 24 hours a day to receive referrals from hospital personnel who identify potential organ and/or tissue donors. The organization is responsible for servicing a federally designated service area, which includes 109 counties in houston, fort worth, lubbock and amarillo and works with approximately 200 hospitals. During 2016, 1,331 organs were recovered from 414 donors for transplant, a rate of recovery that is higher than most other opo's in the country. Lifegift works with transplant centers and united network for organ sharing (unos) to facilitate the matching of donor organs to recipients. Lifegift staff follow the policies dictated by the organ procurement transplant network (optn) for the allocation of organs. Additionally, lifegift maintains a communications call center, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The center screens referrals, approaches families for authorization and medical history information and coordinates organ and tissue recovery efforts. Lifegift received more than 35,078 referrals in 2016. Lifegift also recovers tissue and works with seven local and national tissue processors to refer tissue used for transplantation. During 2016, there were more than 1,006 tissue donations of bone, skin, heart valves and veins. These donations save the lives of burn victims and children with heart defects. Lifegift's facilities include three on-site operating rooms for tissue recovery. Referrals are also provided to four eye banks to recover corneas to restore sight and for research purposes.

professional education:lifegift provides education to approximately 200 hospitals in its federally designated service area. A customized plan is developed for each of these hospitals to expand lifegift's exposure in the medical community. Educational services include assisting hospitals in the development of required policies for the identification and referral of potential donors; education on the benefits of organ and tissue donation; and how to approach potential donor families when asking for authorization to donate. Lifegift meets with hospital administrators and hospital staff to develop, revise and implement policies to ensure participation in the routine notification of all hospital deaths. After a donation takes place, follow up information is provided to the hospital.

public education:lifegift's service area consists of 109 counties with a population of approximately 9. 8 million based on the 2010 census. Lifegift works to promote texas's statewide and organ tissue registry, donate life texas, driving individuals to register their decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor upon their deaths. Lifegift hosts public events annually, particularly during national donate life month (april. ) these events include speaking events, 5k walk/runs and health fairs. Utilizing ambassadors of hope (volunteers who have been touched by organ and tissue donation), lifegift conducts media outreach in a variety of outlets to influence others on importance of organ and tissue donation. During 2016, a group of approximately 379 volunteers donated 2,031 hours of their time, representing lifegift at hundreds of events to promote donation. Lifegift also produces 24 electronic newsletters annually - 12 for internal audiences and 12 for external audiences, as well as its annual report and calendar. In 2016, approximately 25,000 calendars (in english and spanish) were distributed to the general public and to hospital staff. These materials describe lifegift's activities and its contributions to the community, highlighting stories of organ, eye and tissue donors and transplant recipients. The organization also has a concerted effort on education to minority populations, with tailored education and outreach. Lifegift has a strong presence on social media and is active on facebook, twitter, instagram and linkedin. In most communications vehicles, there is a call to action to register as a donor on donatelifetexas. Org.