Eye Donation Month 2020

Each November, Saving Sight joins the Eye Bank Association of American and the eye banking community to celebrate Eye Donation Month. This annual observance serves as an opportunity for eye banks, partners, and communities to commemorate the lives of individuals who have given vision to others through eye donation. This year’s theme was “A Community of Compassion” and it highlighted the many individuals who work together to make restored vision through transplantation possible.

“A Community of Compassion” turned out to be the perfect theme this year as we continued to navigate the world of healthcare during a global pandemic. Typically, our Hospital Development team uses November as an opportunity to visit with our clinical partners in-person to express our gratitude for their partnership and work in the journey of the gift of sight. This year, things looked a lot different and all in-person visits and presentations had to be canceled.

We knew that 2020 had been a difficult year for healthcare workers around the globe and we wanted to be sure to find ways to thank them for being excellent stewards of donation while facing unrelenting challenges. To accomplish this, we created a video with a message of gratitude from our Hospital Development Team, donor families, and cornea recipients to thank those who facilitate the act of eye donation and transplantation in our health care systems.

We hoped to share a positive message of a legacy living on through sight restoration with our partners.

Carol, a Kansas corneal transplant recipient, had this to say about her transplants during the pandemic: “I’m the recent recipient of two corneal transplant surgeries, both during COVID-19. I appreciate all our healthcare providers so much and everyone who has helped restore my sight and all of our health during this difficult time, thank you.”

In addition to the gratitude video, we also shared stories on our social media channels throughout the month that highlight why the work we do each day is so important to our program recipients and donor families. As another way of finding innovative ways to share our mission during unprecedented times, Saving Sight launched its first ever Livestream on Facebook to honor the legacy of donor hero John Lefferts and to talk with his parents Larry and Vivian about his legacy, and their volunteer work and advocacy.

Watch the full Livestream with the Lefferts.