Issue 3: 2013
News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff
NewsBriefs “Group of 10” to Focus on Enhancing Donor Family Approaches
DonationStats * National Organ Waiting List. . . . . . . . . . . . . 118,466 Illinois Organ Waiting List.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,202
Perhaps the most direct opportunity to increase the number of organ and tissue donors is to improve our authorization rates. To that end, we are combining our Itasca-based Donation Specialist staff and Family Support staff to create a new department of 10 people who will focus their efforts on enhancing the way we approach and care for potential donor families.
Indiana Organ Waiting List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,462
“Many of the organizational changes we have implemented in the last few months and variations in referral patterns from hospitals in our service area have necessitated this latest change in our structure,” explained Alison Smith, Vice President of Operations. “Our goal is to create more flexibility and availability among our staff who routinely interact with potential donor families.”
• Kidney/Pancreas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Illinois Organ Waiting List By Organ: • Kidney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,521 • Liver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 • Heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
• Pancreas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 • Lung. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 • Intestine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 *As of 6/14/13
This new group of Donation Specialists will work under a new call schedule and dispatch process which will ensure that we are caring for donor families by having our skilled and best-qualified people working with them more consistently and on all occasions, when possible. In a related move, a new position of Authorization Supervisor has been created to oversee this group. “This person will guide staff efforts to develop relationships with direct caregivers in our partner hospitals and identify and address obstacles that may impede the donation process,” Alison said. The Authorization Supervisor and Donation Specialists will report to Kathy Vasilopulos, Director of Hospital Development.
SafetySnippet Know Your Incident Reporting Responsibilities Slip. Strain. Slice. Stick. Splash. These are just a few of the actions that can lead to injuries and other adverse incidents as we do our jobs each day in the office or out in the field. Definitely clean that wound, affix a Band-Aid or apply that ice compress when these things happen, but remember one other important step we all must take — report the incident. Our incident reporting procedure is designed to make sure all of us receive prompt evaluation and treatment for work-related injuries. It also provides a process for consistent documentation of events leading to an employee injury so we can learn from the experiences and keep them from happening again in the future.
Saving & Enhancing Lives Through Organ and Tissue Donation
(Cont. on p. 2)