Giftofhope staff connections 5 2013

Issue 5: 2013

News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff

NewsBriefs AATF Produces Donation Telethon

DonationStats * National Organ Waiting List. . . . . . . . . . . . . 120,379 Illinois Organ Waiting List.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,319 Indiana Organ Waiting List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,526 Illinois Organ Waiting List By Organ: • Kidney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,595 • Liver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 • Heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 • Kidney/Pancreas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

WGN-TV News Anchor Micah Materre served as emcee for the You Can Make a Difference Telethon, which aimed to educate Chicago viewers about organ and tissue donation and encourage them to offer life to others as registered donors.

Our African-American Task Force helped to bring the donation message to Chicago-area television viewers by taking part in the You Can Make a Difference Telethon, which aired on WJYS-TV, Channel 62, on October 27.

Micah Materre of WGN-TV, Art Norman of NBC5-TV and Sonya Blakey of V103 radio served as hosts for the event, much of which was taped here at Gift of Hope.

The telethon featured donation advocate and Chicago Bears cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman, who gave an update on his daughter, Tiana, who received a lifesaving heart transplant as a baby, an interview with Secretary of State Jesse White and several interviews with donor families and transplant recipients. The event also aired man-on-the-street interviews that captured how everyday citizens feel about organ and tissue donation.

You can view the You Can Make a Difference Telethon here. Note: Use “gift” (no quotation marks) if you’re prompted for a password.

Saving & Enhancing Lives Through Organ and Tissue Donation

• Pancreas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 • Lung. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 • Intestine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 *As of 10/18/13

SafetySnippet Tips to Stay Healthy in Cold, Flu Season With temperatures dropping and snowflakes already in the air, the cold and flu season is upon us.

Here are some tips to stay healthy during the coming months: • Clean and wipe down shared surfaces, such as doorknobs, keyboards and phones.

• Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes; wash hands thoroughly and often.

• Avoid people who are already sick; stay home if you get sick.

• Get a flu shot if possible.

• Eat healthy foods to build up your immune system.

• Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.

• Get plenty of rest.

• Exercise moderately to maintain a healthy immune system.

News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff

Harassment Workshops Stress Respect in the Workplace A series of workshops is helping staff members recognize what constitutes harassment in the workplace and what to do if you’re on the receiving end of harassing behaviors or witness them here at Gift of Hope. “We want our staff to understand that sexual harassment isn’t about being chased around the desk anymore,” said Marianne Steimle, Director of Human Resources and Training. “It’s about flirtation, subtle power plays, retaliation and, with the major role that technology plays in our daily lives, e-mails and text messages.”

Federal law defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: • Submission to this conduct is made a term or condition of employment implicitly or explicitly.

• Submission to or rejection of the conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting an individual.

• The conduct unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

Harassment also can be “environmental.” This can happen by telling sexually degrading jokes or using sexually degrading language, displaying suggestive or obscene pictures or objects or sending staff members e-mails, texts or instant messages with sexual overtones. “The intent of jokes, innuendoes and social banter can be much different than their impact,” Marianne said. “While you may view your actions as trying to be friendly or humorous or an attempt to build rapport with someone, those actions may be viewed as personal insults or put-downs.”

The goal of harassment training is to create a fair and inclusive work environment here at Gift of Hope.

• Confront the harasser when an incident occurs by telling him or her that the behavior or remark is offensive and asking the offender to stop.

• If the action cannot be stopped, while it is occurring, talk to the offender confidentially. Tell the person what action bothers you and make a calm, firm request for a change in the behavior.

Workshop leader Catherine Popowits of Diversity Training & Consulting said it’s important to know that an offender may not realize that his or her behavior is offensive, so a discussion may be all that’s needed to fix the problem.

But if a frank talk doesn’t do the trick, take these steps:

• Do not make accusations or retaliate.

To learn more about our harassment policy here at Gift of Hope, view policy HR011G – Non-Discrimination/Non-Harassment, which you’ll find on Master Control.

Visit GiftofHope.org and Connections to learn more about what’s happening at Gift of Hope.

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News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff

OnwardandUpward Several executives have taken on new titles and responsibilities as we retool our organizational structure to help us best carry out our mission: • Evelyn Schultz has been promoted to Vice President of Internal Operations. A 20-year veteran of Gift of Hope, Ev is now responsible for Tissue Recovery Services, the Donor Resource Center, Organ Recovery Services and Placement/Perfusion. She also will provide handson management of our four strategic drivers: Organ Donor/Patient Management, Organ Placement, Tissue Recovery and Authorization.

• Ross Raspopovich has the new title of CFO/Vice President of Business Development. In that role, Ross retains his historical responsibilities for Accounting, Investments, Transportation and Building Services and expands his focus to identify and execute business enhancement projects and develop new business opportunities such as cornea recovery, expanded tissue recovery and lab services, and acquisitions of complementary business lines.

• Anna Gonzalez has the new title of Vice President of Process Improvement. In that role, Anna retains her historical responsibility for Information Systems and expands her responsibilities to include managing our ongoing strategic planning process, driving process improvement and managing our Quality Department, where she will focus on changing our organizational paradigm from compliance to process improvement.

• Martin Jendrisak, MD, has the new title of Medical Director/Vice President of R&D. In that role, he retains his historical responsibilities while assuming formal responsibility for managing our Laboratory and overseeing our research activities centering on lab testing innovations, donor management enhancements and fostering research collaboration with universities, transplant programs and fellowship programs.

In other staff news, Kristin Sieg and Lindsay Murdock, Medical Technologists in our Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics Laboratory, have passed the Certified Histocompatibility Technologist credentialing examination offered by the American Board of Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics. Their new business cards will now sport the CHT (ABHI) credential. Former Tissue Re-

Evelyn Schultz has been promoted to the newly formed position of Vice President of Internal Operations.

covery Coordinator Andrew Wielgat is now a Placement and Perfusion Coordinator, reporting to Ron Skolek, Supervisor of Placement and Perfusion, and Steve Averhart has shifted from Donor Resource Coordinator to Donation Specialist, reporting to Kim Anding, Authorization Supervisor.

Meanwhile, Laboratory Technologist Kasia Brooks will receive the 2013 Rising Star Award from the American Society for Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics on November 20 during the ASHI annual meeting in Chicago.

The award is presented to an outstanding HLA technologist who has worked in the field for less than three years and wants to pursue a career in HLA. Several other staff members have been signed off to work independently in their respective fields. They are: • Emma Mortensen, Donor Resource Coordinator • Danielle Mae Weech, Donor Resource Coordinator • Kathy Benefield, Tissue Recovery Coordinator • Amanda Horngren, Organ Recovery Coordinator • Lisa Strylowski, Organ Recovery Coordinator And on the personal front, Elva Hollingshead, Tissue Recovery Coordinator, gave birth to Joneva Rose Bembenek on September 28. Joneva weighed in at 7 lbs., 14 oz.

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News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff

Gift of Hope Awards Scholarships to Hispanic Students We recently awarded scholarships ranging from $200 to $500 to Hispanic elementary school students in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood who took part in a Spanish creative writing and art contest to learn about organ and tissue donation and display their knowledge in words and pictures. A Story for Hope was part of a series of events held at Clemente Orozco Academy to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at the school. It highlighted the Spanish language and literature while helping to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation among the young students. The scholarships were awarded through our Scholarships for Hope initiative.

“The students demonstrated a great understanding about the significance of organ and tissue donation,” said Raiza Mendoza, Hispanic Public Relations & Community Outreach Coordinator. “Their work was truly poignant and impressive, which indicates that we accomplished our mission to start a conversation between young students and their families about this topic that is so important to the Hispanic community.”

Galadriel Guerra’s drawing depicting a donor as a life-giving angel took first place in the A Story for Hope drawing contest held at Clemente Orozco Academy. The contest served as a creative platform for students in grades 1 – 8 to develop their native or second language Spanish writing skills, celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and learn about organ and tissue donation.

Donors Remembered at

Speak Our Names.

Remember.

We Gave Hope Through Organ, Eye & Tissue Donation.

A Celebration of Hope

A C E L E B R AT I O N O F H O P E

We held A Celebration of Hope, our annual tribute to donor families and their loved ones who offered the gift of hope through donation, on Saturday, October 26, here at Gift of Hope in Itasca. Nearly 100 donor family members and their friends gathered for a special day of hope and remembrance to honor loved ones who became organ, eye and tissue donors. Attendees heard inspiring stories that honored and celebrated the selfless individuals who gave of themselves so that others may live.

Saturday, October 26, 2013 12:30 - 3 p.m.

Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network 425 Spring Lake Drive, Itasca, IL

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8/30/2013 12:17:42 PM

Visit the event’s picture gallery to view scenes from this special day.

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News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff

Almost There: Record-Breaking Performance In Sight As of September 30, 2013, we transplanted 718 lifesaving organs provided by 241 generous donors. Hundreds more people in need of tissue transplants will benefit from our efforts in clearing 645 skin donors and 628 bone donors.

Based on our activity to date, we have met Incentive Plan Level VI for both organ and tissue categories.

2013 Incentive Metrics As of September 30, 2013

Level I

Level II

Level III

Level IV

Level V

Level VI

Weight

Organ Score

627

639

651

664

677

689

80%

Tissue Score

750

765

780

795

810

825

20%

Percentage per Level

2.25%

3.75%

6.00%

9.00%

10.20%

11.25%

Year-to-Date Actual

Estimated Incentive

Estimated Incentive Weighted

Organ Score

718

11.25%

9.00%

Tissue Score

993

11.25%

2.25%

Total Estimated Incentive

11.25%

MilestonesBirthdays & Anniversaries Birthdays

Anniversaries

November Birthdays

December Birthdays

November Anniversaries

December Anniversaries

Ronald Skolek............................2 Robin Dreas................................2 Justin Carrera.............................4 Jeffrey Kreis................................11 Myenikki Amoaku.....................13 Jesse Sobalsky...........................13 Rebecca Allen-English............14 Bozena Labuda..........................17 Ross Raspopovich....................19 Kevin Cmunt...............................19 Kristen McCoy...........................21 Paul Raven..................................24 Samantha Buchholz.................24 Daniel Simpson.........................27 Jaskiran Kaur..............................30

Becky Ames................................1 Denise Alexander.....................2 Seth Hoffman.............................5 Tyrone White..............................5 Arnitha Lim.................................6 Marianne Steimle.....................6 Heidi Schaiberger.....................7 Kimberly Rushing-Henley . ..8 Tamara Dunn..............................12 Crystal Fenn................................13 Michelle Reef.............................15 Javier De La Sancha ................17 Robby Serrano...........................17 Michelle Hatcher......................18 Sara Reed....................................18 Marjorie Curtis..........................21 Jessica Aquino...........................21 Rose Mee Gee Chan................23 Stacey Troha...............................23 Michael Harmon.......................24 Lillian Jones................................30 Lisa Palmer.................................31

Matthew Tilson......................... 1 Michelle Hatcher...................... 1 Michelle Stanczak.................... 1 Stacey Logan.............................. 2 Virginia Dunnick........................ 2 Susan Shapiro............................ 2 Seth Hoffman............................. 2 Joshua Muller............................. 3 Kevin Medveskas...................... 5 Kathy Cooke............................... 6 AndrĂŠs Jaramillo....................... 6 Brian Woulfe.............................. 6 Becky Ames................................ 7 Ewa Bobula-Pruszynski.......... 7 Marjorie Curtis.......................... 8 Cathy Huffman.......................... 10 Karen Geyer................................ 11 Brian Korf.................................... 14 Javier De La Sancha................. 14 David Freedom.......................... 23

Kevin Cmunt............................... 1 Jerome Howard......................... 1 Damon Marks............................ 2 Season Hammond.................... 2 Emily Maxwell........................... 2 Michael Shelton........................ 5 Lillian Jones................................ 5 Steven Averhart......................... 6 Kathleen Heath......................... 9 Sarah Sunderman..................... 9 Norberto Perez.......................... 9 Morgan Lord............................... 12 Jeffrey Kreis................................ 14 David Bosch............................... 17 Jack Lynch................................... 26

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News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff

WelcomeNewStaff Kelly Bangs joined us on October 21 as an Organ Recovery Coordinator reporting to Michelle Mabry, Supervisor of Organ Recovery Services. She comes to us from Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Kelly is a graduate of the University of St. Francis where she earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing.

Sara Reed joined us on September 16 as a Donation Specialist reporting to Kim Anding, Authorization Supervisor in Hospital Development. She comes to us from Mount Sinai Hospital. Sara is a graduate of Loyola University and holds a master’s degree in social work.

Virginia Richardson joined us on October 21 as a Donor Resource Coordinator reporting to Jacqueline LaMarre, Donor Resource Center Supervisor. She comes to us from Aunt Martha’s Youth Service and Community Health Network Center. Virginia is a graduate of Governor’s State University where she earned a master of science degree in health administration.

Dorian Jackson joined us on October 21 as a Donor Resource Coordinator reporting to Jerome Howard, Donor Resource Center Supervisor. Dorian comes to us from the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communication where he was a 911 dispatcher. He is a graduate of Wilbur Wright Junior College where he earned an associate’s degree in general studies.

Tiffany Sirtola joined us on October 21 as an Organ Recovery Coordinator reporting to Michelle Mabry, Supervisor of Organ Recovery Services. She comes to us from Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Tiffany holds a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Northern Michigan University.

Joseph Jason joined us on September 4 as a downstate Tissue Recovery Technician reporting to Roy Mayfield, Tissue Services Supervisor. He comes to us from the Springfield Clinic. Joseph is a graduate of the U.S.A.F. Security Forces Academy.

Paul Washington joined us on September 16 as a Driver reporting to Jim Burian, Transportation Supervisor. He comes to us from Medifleet Inc.

Ben Nelson joined us on September 4 as a downstate Tissue Recovery Technician reporting to Roy Mayfield, Tissue Services Supervisor. He comes to us from America Ambulance Service. Ben is a graduate of Lincoln Land Community College where he earned an EMT-P certificate.

Open Enrollment Period Starts If your cubicle wall calendar is displaying November, you know it’s time to review your current insurance coverage to decide if you want to make any changes for 2014. The annual “open enrollment” period will run from Tuesday, November 5, through noon Thursday, November 14.

To guide you in your decision-making, Human Resources is conducting a series of optional informational meetings to let you know what’s new and different in our 2014 insurance package. Alison Olcott, Account Manager for Assurance, our new insurance broker, will be on site to conduct most of the open enrollment meetings and answer your questions.

Here’s the remaining schedule of open enrollment meetings: • Monday, Nov. 4, 6:30 – 7:30 a.m., Itasca-Indiana Room • Monday, Nov. 4, 9 – 10 a.m., Itasca-Indiana Room • Wednesday, Nov. 6, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., Itasca-Indiana Room • Wednesday, Nov. 6, 6 – 7 p.m., Itasca-Indiana Room • Thursday, Nov. 7, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Springfield Office (no Assurance rep) Human Resources will e-mail your Employee Election Form to you on or before November 4. Completed forms will be due by noon Thursday, November 14.

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News, Notes and Numbers for Gift of Hope Staff

Donate Life Rose Parade Events Scheduled Two 2014 Donate Life Rose Parade special events will be held in the coming weeks to honor donors who offered the gift of life through donation. On Wednesday, November 6, Community Hospital in Munster, Ind., will hold a Rose Dedication Ceremony to honor and remember donors from the Community Hospital area. More than 30 donor families are expected to be on hand for the event to dedicate roses in honor of their loved ones. The roses will be sent to Pasadena, Calif., and placed in the Dedication Garden on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float.

On Tuesday, December 10, Champaign residents and Advocates for Hope volunteers Robyn and Mike Deterding will join members of the University of Illinois community in celebrating the life and legacy of the Deterdings’ son, Teddy, as Robyn and Mike add the final touches to a memorial floragraph portrait featuring Teddy, who gave the gift of life through organ and tissue donation. Floragraphs — floral images of donors captured in flowers, seeds and spices — represent the millions of people touched by organ and tissue donation, including donor families, living and deceased donors, transplant recipients and people currently waiting for transplants.

University of Chicago Medicine President Sharon O’Keefe dedicates a rose that will join thousands of others in the Dedication Garden feattured on the 2014 Donate Life Rose Parade Float.

Teddy’s floragraph is one of 81 that will adorn the 2014 Donate Life Float during the annual Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. Light Up the World is the theme of the 2014 float, which features a festival of colorful lanterns designed to inspire viewers worldwide to save and heal lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. The lanterns will illuminate 30 riders — all organ and tissue transplant recipients — and will be adorned with the 81 memorial floragraph portraits of deceased donors whose legacies of life shine brightly. A group of 12 living donors will accompany the float riders on foot along the five-mile Rose Parade route.

Linda Ramos, a pancreas and cornea transplant recipient from northwest Indiana, will be our 2014 Donate Life Rose Parade Float rider. She also will be recognized at the University of Illinois event.

In addition to these two special events, several hospitals in our service area are showing their support for the Rose Parade by participating in a national initiative to get hospital executives to dedicate roses to be placed in the Rose Parade Float’s Dedication Garden. Among the hospitals that have participated to date are The University of Chicago Medicine, Advocate Christ Medical Center, Advocate Illinois Masonic and Mount Sinai Hospital.

Engagement Survey Sets Baseline for Organizational Culture Enhancement The Employee Engagement Survey you were asked to complete recently had a tremendous participation rate of more than 90 percent. The survey was conducted as a first step to enhance the organization’s culture. “Culture is one of the most critical elements of the new strategic plan being developed by the cross-cultural teams working to set our future direction,” said Kevin Cmunt, President/CEO. “The survey results will serve as the baseline for measuring the effectiveness of the strategies we employ as we work together to improve our culture over the next three years.” Survey results will be shared at the upcoming Team Hope meeting on November 20.

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Helmer Gift Pushes Financial Donations Past $50,000 Mark Donor family member and Advocates for Hope volunteer Kevin Helmer recently presented us with a financial donation of nearly $21,000 to support our efforts to educate the public about organ and tissue donation and the importance of becoming a registered donor. When coupled with his 2012 donation, Kevin now has donated more than $50,000 to Gift of Hope through proceeds generated at the annual Niki Helmer Memorial Golf Outing, which he established to honor the memory and legacy of his late wife. Niki saved the lives of three people through organ donation, and, to date, her gift of tissue donation has resulted in more than 180 bone and tissue transplants. In recognition of his generosity and strong support for our mission, Kevin was honored as a Lifesaving Partner of Gift of Hope on October 18.

Kevin Helmer (second right) presented President/CEO Kevin Cmunt with a check for nearly $21,000 at our Lifesaving Partners Awards ceremony on October 18. Also pictured are Bob Jeske, who received Niki’s liver, and his wife Carrol.

2013

Lifesaving Partners

Honored

Twenty-two individuals, hospitals and health systems were recognized as Lifesaving Partners at our annual ceremony held to honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement in addressing the critical need for organ and tissue donation. Each honoree received a Lifesaving Partners Award at the October 18 event.

“Our Lifesaving Partners Awards honor the ‘best of the best’ in organ and tissue donation — those people and organizations that have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help make donation happen,” said Kevin Cmunt, President/CEO. “These are dedicated people and organizations that set the standard — and so often surpass it — in making donation possible. Through their selfless work, we give hope and life to those in need of lifesaving organ and tissue transplants.”

See the last issue of Connections for a complete listing of 2013 Lifesaving Partners Award winners.

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New Connections Intranet in the Works Our Connections Intranet will be getting a facelift soon. A team of Communications and Information Systems staff members is working with an outside contractor to revamp this powerful internal communications tool to establish it as the primary source for timely, need-to-know information for staff and a potent collaboration device for project-centered individuals and task teams.

During the past few weeks, our internal work group, anchored by Karen Geyer, Network Supervisor, and Tony Sullivan, Public Relations/Marketing Communications Coordinator, and representatives of the outside work team have met with “power users” of the existing site to learn what works and doesn’t work for them in the current site and assess their needs and wants in a revamped site. Their input is being viewed as representative of our staff as a whole and will help the outside work team develop the basic site that we can expand and enhance as needed after the new site is launched.

As part of the retooling, we will be upgrading to the latest version of Sharepoint, the software system our existing Intranet runs on. One notable feature of the new version is an enhanced “search” capability, which will make finding the information you need on the site much easier. Sharepoint 2013 also has a new “social media” component that some staff members may find useful in their collaboration efforts.

for developing a migration strategy to identify content on the existing site that will be moved to the new site, so most existing content that staff members view as useful and needed will be migrated to the new Connections.”

The implementation plan also will involve identifying a core group of power users who will be trained on how to use the new site. They will serve as the initial “go-to” people for building and fleshing out department, community and collaboration sites for other staff. These people, in turn, will become trainers themselves — the proverbial “train the trainer” strategy — to help deepen the pool of power users and content authors.

While a main goal of the revamped Connections is to position it as a stronger internal communications tool, considerable attention also is being paid to enhance its use as a collaboration tool for staff. “We want to give people a reason to view Connections each day to get the information they need and want easily and quickly,” said Tony. “But we also recognize that many staff members use Connections as a collaboration tool, so that capability will be retained and strengthened in the new site.”

The new Connections is expected to be launched in January.

And there’s no reason to worry about losing things you currently use, Tony added. “Our implementation plan calls

Visit GiftofHope.org and Connections to learn more about what’s happening at Gift of Hope.

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Final 2013 Donation Seminars Set for Illinois Hospital Professionals Two seminars for hospital professionals will cap a series of five continuing education seminars held in 2013 to help hospital professionals learn more about what they can do to celebrate and expand current donation successes, continue to accelerate learning and become more accountable for creating a hopeful future for organ, tissue and cornea donation and transplantation.

Advocates for Hope Workshops Will Cover Storytelling, Organ Donation Process The art of storytelling and the organ donation process are the topics of the two remaining 2013 specialized workshops geared for Advocates for Hope volunteers. Our Stories and How We Share Them, a webinar-based workshop scheduled for 6 – 8 p.m. Wednesday, November 6, addresses the most effective and appropriate ways to share personal stories in the community and clinical settings. Attendees will learn how to frame a message effectively while protecting and cherishing private memories. Issues of over-disclosure, story “burnout” and addressing difficult questions from the public also will be covered.

Kidney Transplant Outcomes Involving Pediatric and Neonatal Donors will be held 3 – 5 p.m. Monday, November 4, in the Arkes Family Pavilion (Video Conference Room #6035) at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. At this presentation, Richard Perez, MD, Chief of Transplant Surgery and Director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif., will share his current renal transplant research and practice, which expands the criteria for potential deceased organ donors. The presentation is geared for pediatric and neonatal intensivists, pediatric and neonatal ICU nurses and other professionals in the donation and transplantation community.

The Organ Donation Process is an in-person and webinarbased workshop scheduled for 6 – 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 11, here at Gift of Hope. At this workshop, members of our organ recovery and professional training staff will provide an overview of organ donation and discuss the different staff positions involved in the complex process of managing an organ recovery case from beginning to end as they work to make lifesaving organs available to waiting transplant recipients. In addition, Diane Schmitz, Donor Family Services Coordinator, will share the different types of aftercare follow-up and support we provide to donor families.

Interested Gift of Hope staff members can attend this presentation in person or remotely via Internet conference. E-mail Loretta Zainine, Donation Coordinator, by Friday, November 1, to express your interest in attending. She will provide you with details on how to participate remotely.

Working Together, Changing Lives will be held Friday, November 8, in Effingham. The seminar will take attendees on a journey through the process of organ and tissue donation and transplantation and illustrate the full-circle story that shows the important role hospital professionals play in the donation process and how their participation impacts donor families and recipients as the donation and transplantation story moves forward. Registration is now closed for this seminar.

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Although the workshops are designed for Advocates for Hope volunteers, all Gift of Hope staff, family members and friends are welcome to attend. If you plan on attending Our Stories and How We Share Them, please RSVP to Heidi Schaiberger, Public Relations Volunteer Coordinator,

by Friday, November 1. If you plan on attending The Organ Donation Process, please RSVP to Heidi by December 6. To keep abreast of these and other Advocates for Hope volunteer activities and events, visit the Volunteers section of GiftofHope.org.

National Donor Sabbath Celebration Approaching During the weekend of November 15 – 17, we will join clergy, healthcare professionals and Advocates for Hope volunteers in Illinois, northwest Indiana and across the country in observing National Donor Sabbath, an interfaith celebration of the gifts of hope provided through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Speaking together in a collective voice, we will urge people to make faith-based decisions to become organ and tissue donors and to register those decisions in the Illinois Organ/Tissue Donor Registry. Consider adding your strong voice to the group.

represents one of the highest forms of compassion and giving — basic principles that all religions espouse.

Nearly all religions — including Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism — support organ and tissue donation and view it as one of the highest expressions of compassion and generosity. Yet, a common reason families give when they choose not to donate a loved one’s organs and tissues is “donation is against my religion.”

Although these beliefs differ from denomination to denomination, the underlying theme is the same: Organ and tissue donation

Nearly 120,000 men, women and children — including more than 5,000 in Illinois and 1,500 in Indiana — are waiting for the gift of life, and thousands more are waiting for life-enhancing tissue or cornea transplants. National Donor Sabbath urges all of us to let others know about this tremendous need and to participate in a united educational celebration of life and hope.

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While a primary focus of National Donor Sabbath is to encourage people to make faith-based decisions to be donors, it also is a time to remember families who have lost a loved one yet gave the greatest gift of all — the gift of life. National Donor Sabbath also encourages people to focus thoughts and prayers on the thousands of men, women and children waiting for organs and tissue to save or enhance their lives.