Every April, Midwest Transplant Network staff join transplant centers, donor hospitals, Donate Life America and others to celebrate National Donate Life Month (NDLM). NDLM was established in 2003 by Donate Life America and is meant to encourage people to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor, as well as honor those who have saved and enhanced lives through the gift of donation.
“Let Life Sing” is the theme for NDLM this year. The theme was chosen because birds are a symbol of new beginnings and hope. Their return and songs in spring can bring a sense of peace.
Blue and Green Spirit Week is filled with theme days, including National Donate Life Blue & Green Day on Friday, April 11.
Our partners are crucial to our mission of saving lives through the gift of organ, eye and tissue donation with dignity and compassion. We encourage staff from our partner hospitals, transplant centers and treasury, licensing and Department of Revenue offices to share their donation and transplantation spirit broadly during April.
A NDLM toolkit with links to printed and written materials, digital and social media assets is available for use in April 2025.
Learn more and find NDLM resources: mwtn.org/ndlm
Join Us for Donate Life Legacy Walk
Saturday, June 7
Registration for the 2025 Donate Life Legacy Walk is open. We hope you will join us Saturday, June 7, to celebrate organ, eye and tissue donation, and donor heroes who gave the gift of life. The free event is from 6-9 p.m. at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
The 2025 walk will feature live music by local band, Twice on Sunday, amazing food trucks and memorable Tribute Trail signs honoring donor heroes and transplant warriors.
What’s new in 2025? We’re excited to move the walk to the southwest lawn of the WWI Museum and Memorial, where you’ll be closer to parking, enjoy more shade from trees, and experience a cozier, more welcoming space.
Learn more and register today: mwtn.org/legacy-walk
MTN Staff Share Expertise at Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation Conference
Leading sessions as presenters and moderators, MTN staff shared their expertise with colleagues at the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) Annual Conference.
Midge Dempsey, Family Services Coordinator II, moderated the session “Cultivating Donation Awareness Through Community Events.”
Salama Gallimore, MTN General Counsel and Advisor on Governmental Affairs, presented the session “Equity in Transplantation.”
John Michael Segars, Manager of Family Services, moderated the session “Culture Shifts and Vulnerability: Support in Communities Starts at Home.”
AMAT’s mission is to collaborate with organ donation and transplant professionals advocating for equitable access to transplantation services, raising awareness about the importance of organ donation and actively addressing the unique needs and challenges of multicultural communities in organ transplantation. Through advocacy, education and outreach, AMAT strives to enhance the quality of life, foster sustainability and nurture community partnerships.
Midwest Transplant Network is proud to partner with AMAT leaders in support of organ, eye and tissue donation to save and enhance lives.
John Michael Segars was among three MTN staff members who led sessions at AMAT
MTN Staff Make an Impact at NATCO
The 50th Annual Meeting of NATCO was attended by MTN staff February 23-26, along with hospital partners Abby Burstert, CICU Director, North Kansas City Hospital; Tracey Spurgeon, Executive Director, Critical Care, Mercy Hospital, Joplin; Nate Karch, Director of Nursing, University Hospital, Columbia and Kelsey Gebauer, Nurse Manager, SICU, The University of Kansas Health System. The landmark gathering offered donation and transplant professionals the opportunity to address today’s most pressing challenges and create innovative processes aiming to save more lives.
Taylor Brookins, Director, Family Services, said, “NATCO provides amazing opportunities to connect with colleagues from other organ procurement organizations. It is an opportunity to learn from each other and continue to grow as professionals and as an organization.”
Brookins, a member of the NATCO pre-conference planning committee, also presented several topics:
• Finding an approach model that works for you (Preparing for different types of approaches)
• How to rock FPA DCD (Working through FPA oppositions)
• How to create a supportive environment that gets a yes (Authorization AOCs, decline reviews, ongoing trainings)
• Essential guide to interviewing and onboarding (Finding the right fit)
During the full conference, MTN staff members presented multiple topics:
• Hospital Engagement: Kyle Petersen, Hospital Services Coordinator, “Adapting Education to Fit Changing Stakeholder Needs”
• Procurement: Chelsea Willems, Organ Procurement Coordinator, “Expedited Lung Placement on the Unstable Donor”
• Hospital Engagement: Lori Markham, Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer; Lisa Heideman, Hospital Services Coordinator; Janet Maxey, Family Services Coordinator II; Lexi Morse-Murphy, Organ Procurement Coordinator II, and Kyle Petersen, Hospital Services Coordinator III, “Collaborating to Honor a Special Donor”
“The NATCO meeting was a great experience to attend with our hospital partners,” said Lori Markham, RN, MSN, CCRN, Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer. “We were able to learn together, as well as discuss strategies that we can implement together to honor our donor heroes and save more lives.”
NATCO is a professional organization that is committed to the advancement of organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation. The organization promotes and enhances the relationship between donation and transplantation.
NATCO members improve their skills and gain experience through the sharing of knowledge and best practices with other professionals.
2025 Tri-State Funeral Directors’ Convention is May 4 – 7
Don’t miss the Tri-State Convention, which will be held May 4-7 at the Sheraton Hotel and Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park, Kansas. Advanced registration is available online.
This year’s convention will have an exhibit floor and numerous educational opportunities including an embalming seminar sponsored by Midwest Transplant Network. Tom Sherman of Dodge Chemical is the event keynote speaker.
Sherman has 25 years of experience in the funeral industry. He’s a licensed funeral director and embalmer and earned a diploma in Mortuary Science from the Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service Houston. He is the Dodge sales representative for central and west Texas and is a contributor to Dodge magazine on difficult embalming issues.
Hospital Partner Education
About This Newsletter
This insert is intended for clinical staff and not for the general public. Please post in a highly visible clinical area such as a break room.
Family Readiness Assessment Tool Enables a Compassionate Donation Process
Midwest Transplant Network recognizes the challenges that hospital staff face when a family adamantly requests immediate extubation and a donation conversation needs to be facilitated. MTN wants to proactively support hospital staff by providing more timely donation conversations with families. Our goal is to jointly assess family readiness for donation conversations with families while:
• Providing on-time donation information and support for family decision making
Contact Us
For more information or questions, call 913-262-1668, email info@mwtn.org or visit mwtn.org
By the Numbers
Total Organs Transplanted Jan. 1 – March 11, 2025
• Upholding First Person Authorization
• Matching families’ time frames for palliative extubation
Working together to assess family readiness for end-of-life conversations is essential to helping facilitate a smooth and compassionate donation process.
We ask that you please update MTN as soon as possible when observing any of the following:
• When the family is showing signs that they may accept that this is a nonsurvivable injury.
• When the family has made comments that would lead you to think they may elect to move to comfort care in the next 24-48 hours (i.e.):
– Discussing palliative extubation or end-of-life decisions
– Talking about the patient in past tense
– Gathering family to say their goodbyes
– Discussing funeral home arrangements or asking for funeral arrangement resources
– A change in code status to DNR.
– Requesting a chaplain or priest for last rites or final blessings
Please contact Midwest Transplant Network at 800-366-6791. The information you share can help determine the timing of MTN’s contact with the family and what type of interaction is appropriate.
Investigate Before You Extubate
Respiratory therapists are also essential members of this team in supporting families facing endof-life processes for their loved ones. When preparing for a terminal extubation, please confirm with the bedside nurse that a referral has been made to MTN, an update regarding palliative care measures has been facilitated, and the patient has been assessed for DCD (Donation after Circulatory Death) potential. Our goal is to work together to match the donation discussion to the family’s timeline for end-of-life decisions/palliative extubation.
April is National Donate Life Month
Did you know?
• More than 103,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list.
• Every eight minutes another person is added to the transplant waiting list.
• Each day 17 people die waiting for an organ transplant.
• Every 11 minutes, a lifesaving transplant is performed.
• The oldest organ donor in the U.S. was a 98-yearold from Missouri.
• The first-person authorization registry upholds an individual’s right to make a decision.
• Regarding organ and tissue donation, no one may overturn another individual’s decision.
Donation After Circulatory Death (DCD)
Donation after circulatory death (DCD) is defined as organ donation in patients who do not meet brain death criteria/death by neurologic criteria (DNC) and are anticipated to reach asystole within 120 minutes of cessation of artificial support. DCD eligibility is determined prior to formally shifting to comfort care. When authorization for donation is obtained, the donor hero will remain at the hospital to facilitate the recovery of all eligible organs after asystole.
ICU nurses are integral in DCD cases and will continue to provide care to the donor patient from the time of donation authorization up until recovery of organs. MTN clinical coordinators will collaborate with the attending hospital physician on orders to optimize the donation opportunity. When organs have been matched to national waitlist recipients, an extubation/surgical recovery time is coordinated with the hospital OR team, the incoming transplant team and the donor family. The assigned RN accompanies the patient to the location of the planned extubation, where comfort medications will then be administered by the assigned RN. Once asystole has been determined, the RN will likely accompany the patient to the OR where they will hand off to the OR team for the recovery of organs.
DCD is less common than donation after brain death/DNC and occurs in about 35% of MTN’s organ donors. Advancements in DCD may also include the use of normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) to maximize organ outcomes.
Please remember to call MTN on all ventilated patients at 800-366-6791 within 60 minutes or less (per your hospital policy) when your patient meets ANY of the following criteria:
• A severe brain injury OR a devastating illness or,
• A GCS of 5 or less, and
• Any indication a family is shifting toward terminal extubation decisions to preserve the opportunity for donation.
Thank you for your continued support and collaboration to save more lives through donation.
Legacy Walk Opportunities for
DMV Teams
The 2025 Donate Life Legacy Walk is quickly approaching. We want to encourage you to form teams for the walk. This is a great opportunity for our licensing, treasury and Department of Revenue partners to get together and show their support for organ, eye and tissue donation. If you’re not able to join us in person, please find some time to spend outdoors and post a picture using #LegacyWalkMTN. Whether it is your own donor hero, or you’re coming as a team as partners in donation, we are excited to see everyone Saturday, June 7, 6-9 p.m. at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.
Register your team: mwtn.org/legacy-walk
T-shirt Store Opening in May
Be on the lookout for the spring Midwest Transplant Network T-shirt store. We are excited to roll out a new T-shirt design. We will share details about the store at the beginning of May, with deliveries to begin in June. More to come in the DMV e-newsletter.
We Need Your Help with Updates
MTN wants to confirm that we have the most up-to-date office information to make sure we send communications and mail to the correct person and office location. If your license, treasury or Department of Revenue office has moved or had changes in leadership, staff count or email, please contact Jessica Cleary, Donor Designation Coordinator, at jcleary@mwtn.org . Thank you for your help.
A Cornea Transplant Changes a Life
Kayla Corbett is a Tag Office Supervisor at the Sedgwick County Auto Licensing department in Wichita, Kansas. She shares her story about how a cornea transplant changed her life.
She started to notice a change in her vision when she was in college. Kayla Corbett was 25 when she was diagnosed with keratoconus in her right eye. Her doctor said she may one day need a cornea transplant.
“At that time, I thought it’s not that bad,” said Kayla. “I’ll never have to worry about a transplant or anything.”
Kayla knew she had a progressive disease, and her vision would decline with time. She experienced continual headaches at her job in a school district. Eye strain was caused by reading to students during the day.
Twenty-five years later and it was 2018. Kayla’s vision had decreased to the point where she was legally blind in the right eye. She thought she would be too old to have a cornea transplant but found hope in the conversation with her doctor at the time of her diagnosis. He had assured Kayla that her age would not matter when it was time for the transplant.
A range of emotions
She was terrified when it was time for the surgery. Kayla traveled several hours across Kansas to her doctor in Overland Park. She found herself more relaxed for the procedure once she was settled in and encouraged by the medical staff. Within an hour the procedure was complete. Her recovery would take less than a week.
The transplant was life changing for Kayla. She was thrilled with the results of her cornea transplant. “I noticed the changes right away. It was spring and everything was so bright and green.”
Her life improved in many ways after the cornea transplant. Spending time with her family was at the top of Kayla’s list of treasured activities. A much-loved hobby of photographing old barns and buildings in black and white also became more focused. “I was able to take a photo of a certain part of the barn with all the details rather than a shot of the entire building.”
Grateful beyond words
Kayla hasn’t connected with her donor hero and said, “I like the word hero because I have a hero that I can’t thank enough. Every day I thank them because I can see. I can play catch with my nieces and nephews. I can go to places I couldn’t before. I can see and that is great.”
Becoming a stronger person throughout this process seems natural for Kayla. She has great pride in her work and said, “I couldn’t do this job without having had the surgery.”
A new mission
Kayla was familiar with the positive impact of tissue donation after her nephew experienced skin burns. “He received skin grafts that helped him heal more quickly.”
During our interview Kayla shared her experience with much enthusiasm. “I share my story whenever I can. When Jessica from MTN in Kansas City comes to our office people are always asking questions. I can say that I’m here at this job because of a generous donor hero.”
Mission
Saving lives by honoring the gift of donation with dignity and compassion
Vision
Leading organ and tissue donation through excellence, quality and partnerships
Contact Us
For more information or questions, call 913-262-1668 or visit mwtn.org
Follow Us
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/MidwestTransplantNetwork
@MWTransplant
Midwest Transplant Network
Upcoming Events
Event Audience Key
General MTN
Funeral Home & Medical Examiner Partners
Hospital Partners
Licensing, Treasury and Department of Revenue Partners
View all upcoming events: mwtn.org/events
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April
Tuesday, April 8 • MTN NDLM Flag-Raising Ceremony
MTN invites you to a flag-raising ceremony in support of National Donate Life Month to celebrate donor heroes and transplant recipients. The flag will be raised at 1:08 p.m. to represent how one donor hero can save eight lives.
For more information: info@mwtn.org
Friday, April 11 • National Donate Life Blue & Green Day
During National Donate Life Blue & Green Day, the public is encouraged to wear blue and green and to engage in sharing the Donate Life message and promote the importance of registering as an organ, eye and tissue donor.
For more information: donatelife.net/blue-green-day
April 20 – 26 • National Pediatric Transplant Week
National Pediatric Transplant Week focuses on the powerful message of ending the pediatric transplant waitlist.
For more information: mwtn.org/pediatric-transplant-week
June
Saturday, June 7 • Donate Life Legacy Walk
Join us for the ninth annual Donate Life Legacy Walk from 6-9 p.m., to celebrate the gift of organ, eye and tissue donation with live music, food trucks and more.
