A PUBLICATION OF SAVING SIGHT
SPRING 2014
Bonnie and Charlotte: Correspondence After Transplantation KidSight Pilots Healthy Vision Day in St. Louis Area Champion of Donation Beth Williams, RN Lions Teach Young People About Community Service
35 Years of Vision: Dr. Ronald Walkenbach’s Contributions to Saving Sight
Leadership Tony Bavuso Chief Executive Officer Byron DeLaMatre Chief Information Officer Jeff Eckert Chief Administrative Officer Annie Kuhl Chief Communications Officer Tina Livesay Chief Operating Officer Shelly Rasley Chief Technical Officer Michael Titus Chief Clinical Officer
Editorial Clayton Clark Communications & Development Specialist Paul Coleman Graphic Designer
Office Locations Columbia, MO 404 Portland St. Columbia, MO 65201 Office: 573-443-1479 Donor Hotline: 800-331-2636 Fax: 573-443-1657 Hutchinson, KS 2 East 12th Ave. Hutchinson, KS 67501 Partner Relations: 620-259-7388 Office: 620-259-7300 Fax: 620-259-7323 Kansas City, MO 10100 N. Ambassador Dr. Suite 200 Kansas City, MO 64153 Office: 816-454-5454 Fax: 816-454-5446 Springfield, IL 400 Chatham Rd. Suite 103 Springfield, IL 62704 Office: 217-679-2987 Fax: 217-670-0800 Springfield, MO 3506 Culpepper Circle Suite D Springfield, MO 65804 Office: 417-882-1532 Fax: 417-882-8206 St. Louis, MO 10801 Pear Tree Lane Suite 170 St. Louis, MO 63074 Office: 314-428-4373 Fax: 314-428-3751
From Our CEO We change lives by saving sight. And one of the ways we do that is by working hard to develop relationships with our partners and stakeholders. You can see some of the ways we strive to make meaningful connections in this issue of Perspectives, from supporting our childcare, hospital, and fellow eye bank partners, to offering our recipients and donor families the opportunity to connect through correspondence. This March, Dr. Ronald Walkenbach retired after more than 30 years of service as our Executive Director. He was instrumental in fostering many of the relationships that resulted in our current level of success. He found ways that we could meet people’s vision health needs by partnering with Lions clubs, other eye banks, and healthcare professionals in our service area. Although we will miss him greatly, he’s leaving this organization in better shape than he found it. In 2013, we provided eye tissue for 2,630 corneal transplants, and KidSight screened a record-breaking 46,405 children. Thanks to Dr. Walkenbach’s 35 years of vision, we truly are changing more lives by saving sight. I’m honored to succeed him as the leader of this organization. If you’re new to Saving Sight, I invite you to get to know more about us, and if you’ve been supporting us for years, see what we’re up to lately. As you read the stories that follow, ask yourself how you could get more involved in our mission. What can I do to change lives by saving sight? Consider making a financial donation to support our mission and getting involved in one of our programs as a volunteer. I know my colleagues and I would love to hear from you. Until then, please enjoy this issue of Perspectives and learn how we’re connecting with people in your community to change lives. Sincerely,
Tony Bavuso Chief Executive Officer
Contact General Information: 1-800-753-2265 Media Inquiries: 800-283-1982 ext. 101 or ext. 115 pr@saving-sight.org
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Saving Sight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to change lives by saving sight. Founded in Columbia, MO in 1960, the organization introduced the gift of sight to Missouri. Today, Saving Sight operates vision health programs that serve nearly 50,000 people worldwide each year, and its offices are located in Missouri, Kansas, and central Illinois.
KidSight Pilots Healthy Vision Day in St. Louis Area Thanks to a grant from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis, KidSight is increasing its impact on childcare facilities in the Greater St. Louis region. The pilot project involves expanding KidSight to make the vision screenings interactive and educational for children and parents. In conjunction with the vision screening, childcare partners will receive a children’s book about vision (I Can See Just Fine by Eric Barclay), a packet of carrot seeds to grow, promotional posters about healthy vision, and coloring pages about eye health. The project is designed to build relationships with childcare partners and raise KidSight’s visibility among parents. As a result, the KidSight staff hopes to help childcare partners teach their children about healthy vision and to better communicate with parents when their children are referred to eye doctors for detected vision problems. Through the grant, Healthy Vision Day is being offered to 70 childcare facilities in the Greater St. Louis area (St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Lincoln, Warren, and Franklin counties and St. Louis City). When the project is completed this fall, the KidSight team will refine Healthy Vision Day based on partner feedback and then seek support to grow the project on a broader scale.
Misko Continues to Advance Eye Banking Through Memorial Scholarship Jachin Misko, Saving Sight’s Regional Director of Clinical Services, passed away just over a year ago. He was a pivotal leader in establishing the eye bank’s Descemet’s Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty cutting lab and procedures, an achievement that considerably enhanced the ability to provide specific tissues needed by recipients. Jachin was also a leader within the Eye Bank Association of America. That is why the Jachin Misko Memorial Scholarship for Technical Advancement in Eye Banking was created in his memory this past winter. Saving Sight partnered with Numedis, a manufacturer of corneal preservation media, to cover costs for an eye bank technician from an EBAA-member eye bank to attend the 2014 Technician Education Seminar (TES). This year’s recipient was Monica Freiburger, an employee of Iowa Lions Eye Bank. Of her experience winning the award, she wrote, “I was both excited and humbled by the responsibility that came with this scholarship.” Freiburger gained technical skills to help her in her work as well as collaborative insight from fellow attendees. “My objectives for the TES were: to gain a better understanding of what different eye banks do in their day-today work, see how organizations work differently within the same regulatory guidelines to accomplish the same mission to improve sight, and to review the different roles of eye banking,” she said. “The TES fulfilled my goals and went beyond what I had imagined to learn.” Tony Bavuso, chief executive officer, said, “I believe this is a particularly meaningful way to honor Jachin because it represents the impact he had on all of us and on changing lives by saving sight through eye banking.” The scholarship will be offered to a promising eye bank technician for at least the next four EBAA Technician Education Seminars. Perspectives | Page 3
Bonnie and Charlotte: Correspondence After Transplantation
Correspondence after donation and transplantation can be a positive part of the healing process for many people. Saving Sight offers donor families and cornea transplant recipients the opportunity to write to each other in a safe, positive environment. Acting as an intermediary, Saving Sight accepts the letters and then passes them on to the appropriate parties, which helps preserve everyone’s anonymity. Recipients and donor families alike have said that correspondence had therapeutic effects. When Bonnie’s son, Cody, died in Divernon, Illinois after a car accident, he was able to donate skin and corneas. “Cody always wanted to be an organ donor,” she said. One of his corneas was received by Charlotte from Clinton, Missouri, who needed the transplant to treat a corneal infection that threatened to destroy her entire eye. Quite soon after her transplant surgery, Charlotte initiated the correspondence process with the help of Paul, her son who lived with her and cared for the family farm. Paul said his mother was eager to correspond with her donor’s family because she understood loss, having recently lost two Perspectives | Page 4
grandchildren. “Because of that unselfish loved one was a donor and gave me a gift, I still have my eye,” Paul remembered Charlotte saying. “So she wanted to contact the family and thank them.” With Paul’s help, Charlotte sent a letter to Saving Sight which was then passed on to Scarlett, Cody’s wife. “Scarlett didn’t feel like she was ready to correspond, so I asked permission to correspond instead,” said Bonnie. And with that, Bonnie and Charlotte began the process of getting to know each other. “Charlotte was very understanding that someone died to give her this cornea,” Bonnie recalled. “She was a really sweet lady.” When people correspond for more than a year and both parties consent to communicating without anonymity, Saving Sight will connect the donor family and recipient so they can pursue contact on their own. Bonnie and Charlotte wrote several letters in that first year and continued contact in the years that followed. “We talked on the phone sometimes, at birthdays and at Christmas,” Bonnie said. Eventually, Bonnie offered to visit Charlotte at her home in Clinton.
“It’s hard to explain what it’s like to meet someone who has your son’s cornea. But I can’t say enough how blessed I felt by it all.” -Bonnie
“My daughter Tara and I had discussed from the time I first started corresponding with Charlotte how we would love to meet her, although we knew it would be difficult on us. However, Tara was unable to come with me so I drove there on June 16, 2012, which was Cody and Scarlett’s wedding anniversary,” Bonnie said. “I stayed at Charlotte’s house for three or four hours and met Paul. We had a wonderful visit. It was nice to have a part of Cody with her, to know that he lived on. Cody had big blue beautiful eyes, and I just loved the fact that I got to meet her and look in her eyes.” Paul said the feeling was mutual: “It meant a lot to Mom to get to finally meet the person behind the voice on the phone, as Mom was unable to travel long trips.”
Despite the happiness of meeting Charlotte face to face, Bonnie also found the experience to be emotionally trying. “I held it all together until I drove out of her driveway, and then I cried all the way home,” Bonnie said. “It was Father’s Day the next day and just meeting her – she was a wonderful lady. She was very appreciative of how Cody had died but was willing to give his cornea. She never took it for granted.
That’s why she wrote the letter – she wanted to know about the person who donated and his family.”
Charlotte’s daughter made quilted table cloths, and she gave one to Bonnie as a keepsake from their visit. “I cherish that,” Bonnie said. “Charlotte had health issues, and I think she knew we wouldn’t see each other again.” In April of 2013, Charlotte passed away at the age of 91, and thanks to Paul’s care, she was able to remain on the farm until a few days before her death. Paul described his mother as having “an abundance of love that she shared with her eight children and many outside her family” and that she “was proud of Bonnie’s friendship.” Bonnie, too, looks back fondly on the trip. “I felt so fortunate to have met Charlotte,” Bonnie said. “It’s hard to explain what it’s like to meet someone who has your son’s cornea. But I can’t say enough how blessed I felt by it all.” To learn more about the young man who brought Bonnie and Charlotte together, read Cody’s story: https://www.saving-sight.org/illinois-eye-donorcontinues-help-others.
To learn more about the young man who brought Bonnie and Charlotte together, read Cody’s story: https://www.savingsight.org/illinois-eyedonor-continues-helpothers.
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35 Years of Vision: Dr. Ronald Walkenbach’s Contributions to Saving Sight After more than 35 years of service, Dr. Ronald Walkenbach retired from Saving Sight on March 14, 2014. For 32 of those years he served as Executive Director, driving exponential growth of the eye bank and creation of charitable programs, and in his final year, he moved into an Associate Director role to help guide Tony Bavuso, who succeeded him as leader of the organization. Dr. Walkenbach joined Saving Sight, then known as the Missouri Eye Research Foundation, in late 1977 as a senior researcher. After completing his PhD in pharmacology at University of Missouri-Columbia, he took a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia where he researched treatments for diabetes. Originally from Hermann, Missouri, Dr. Walkenbach was visiting home from Virginia when he was invited to apply for a position at the Foundation. He received the job, then a grant from the National Eye Institute, and he began his corneal research. “I was applying the pharmacological approach to the physiology and applying it to the cornea to see if similar things were going on,” he said. “Lower forms of mammals have the ability to regenerate their endothelium in response to disease or an accident. But apes, monkeys, humans, and cats don’t, and we haven’t found the reason yet.” Dr. Walkenbach and his team determined that hormones could be used to control the cornea, but they weren’t able to bring
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about any “grandiose change” to a diseased or injured cornea. “In those days, we were looking for ways to make the endothelial cells undergo mitosis,” he said. “When too many cells died, a person needed a transplant. So if you could get cells to undergo mitosis once, that’d give you enough cells for the rest of your life. We were looking to make an eye drop that would cause endothelial mitosis.” He and his team never found the answer they sought, but nobody else did either and that’s why corneal transplants remain the primary treatment for many corneal diseases and injuries. Dr. Walkenbach may never have taken that senior researcher position had he not experienced the gift of sight firsthand. In 1966, he was diagnosed with keratoconus, a disease that causes the corneas to distort and thin. By 1972, while a graduate student at Mizzou, his left cornea was clouded over to the point of requiring a transplant. He received the surgery and continued his studies, but coincidentally, the surgeon, then chair of the ophthalmology department at Mizzou, suggested that Dr. Walkenbach check out MERF. Eventually, during his fellowship in Virginia, his right eye reached the point of requiring a transplant, too. Back then, donation and eye banking were not as advanced as they are now, so Dr. Walkenbach had to wait about three months for a donor cornea to become available
in each case. After surgery he spent three to four days in the hospital, and he didn’t receive glasses until six months later. He remembers wondering after the first surgery if he’d ever see out of that eye again. But his vision did return. “I remember being in the lab washing beakers, looking out the window through this beaker, and I could see the fibers of the towel and the prism effect,” he recalled. “I could see.” With his sight renewed, he was able to continue his research, and in 1981, he became Executive Director of the Missouri Eye Research Foundation, splitting his time between research and administrative duties. In the decades that followed, Dr. Walkenbach sought to grow the eye bank. “I wanted to continue the research, but growing the eye bank was the most obvious thing to work toward,” he said. “There was a shortage of corneas and we needed to make people more receptive to donation.” This work eventually required him to end his research after 20 years. “I came to the realization that I couldn’t be the best I could be at both things,” he said. “I liked the intellectual challenge of research, but I started getting more sleep when I devoted myself to administration.” Concentrating his energy on the organization’s programs led to exponential growth in the late 1990s. Through a Lions Clubs
International grant, amblyopia screenings began as a volunteer project with St. Louis-area Lions (now called KidSight, this program screens 42,000+ children per year). He also started an Eye Care Assistance program to serve Missourians who could not afford crucial eye care but did not qualify for government aid. And in 1997, he and his leadership staff orchestrated agreements to facilitate eye donation beyond Missouri. “By taking over operations of central Illinois and most of Kansas, we had enough hospitals to get a steady supply of corneas,” he said. With a critical mass of hospitals and eye donors, the new eye bank, Heartland Lions Eye Banks, was able to offer surgeons the corneal tissue they needed when they needed it, eliminating the waiting list. “It was scary to start offering corneas on a scheduled basis,” he said. “But it went amazingly well. Once surgeons put in orders, we liked it better because we knew where the need was. We had extremely few times when we couldn’t provide.” By the early 2000s, Dr. Walkenbach required another set of corneal transplants. The original donor tissue was still healthy, but his corneas around the donor tissue had deteriorated further. Twentyeight years later, though, this time as the Executive Director of one of the largest eye banks in the world, Dr. Walkenbach experienced the fruit of his labors firsthand. Due to the growth of eye banking and advancements in surgical technique, his surgeon requested tissue from Heartland Lions Eye Banks, scheduled an operating room for surgery, replaced Dr. Walkenbach’s cornea, and sent him home two hours after surgery. “It was amazingly noninvasive,” he remembers. “The sutures were much finer this time, and they were sewn in a different manner, enabling control of the astigmatism. I had good vision shortly after surgery, even without glasses.” Eye banking, surgical technique, and public sentiment about donation have advanced in complement to each other in the past 35 years, and as a result, more people receive the gift of sight each year. In fact, when Dr. Walkenbach started as Executive Director, the eye bank provided tissue for 70 transplants per year. And in the last fiscal year before his retirement, his organization provided tissue for 2,578 transplants. “Moving from a shortage of tissue and emergency surgeries to recovering enough tissue and scheduled surgeries has made a night-and-day difference for patients, surgeons, hospitals, everybody,” he said. This growth in the eye bank, in addition to conducting his federally funded research for 20 years, is what he considers his proudest achievement. Dr. Walkenbach’s achievements are tremendous, and his retirement is well-deserved. “I’m looking forward to doing the things I did on a limited basis before: cycling, bow hunting, fishing, honey-do lists, some more traveling,” he said. “I’m also trying to incorporate those things that I and my wife like to do into our traveling. We want to go somewhere, but we don’t have anything in particular other than seeing the grandkids.” The staff of Saving Sight congratulate him on an outstanding career and wish him an enjoyable retirement. He’s earned it.
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Lions Teach Young People About Community Service Past District Governor Jerry and Lion Judy Young of Springfield, Missouri know firsthand the value of being a donor. The Youngs’ involvement with Lions began when PDG Jerry joined a club in Minnesota in 1973, and their support of eye banking organizations like Saving Sight has continued since. Their financial contributions and planned giving are important to them. Those gifts serve as a thank you and reminder for a friend who, thanks to transplant surgery, could continue her needlepoint hobby with repaired sight. Their favorite activity is the 4th Grade + Lions = Teamwork project they developed to teach young people about community service and empathy to those facing sight challenges. Nine lessons engage students in Lionism, mathematics, writing, social studies, coping, and overcoming. The curriculum culminates in an interpretive history walk through a local park created by the Springfield Host Lions and a pizza party where students eat lunch blindfolded. Throughout the lessons, volunteers from the blind community, the Lions, and Saving Sight staff work together to ensure the program’s success. The Youngs’ passion for sight preservation and education extends to eyeglass recycling as well, which has afforded them the opportunity to spend long weekends on mission trips in Mexico distributing and fitting eyeglasses for those in need. While exhausting, the energy spent was well worth the investment. Whether it is through time, talent, treasure, or all three at once, they live the Lions motto “We Serve.” “It is the direct contact with people who need service or the youth who learn about service that motivates us to continue [our contributions],” Lion Judy said. “Even today we run into kids and adults that worked with us many years ago. It’s rewarding to see.”
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Champion of Donation Beth Williams
Beth Williams, RN (pictured center) is the Director of Medical-Surgical Nursing at St. Francis Health Center (SFHC) in Topeka, Kansas, where she has worked for 26 years. As chairperson of the organ and tissue donation committee at St. Francis for the past five years, she leads a group of her coworkers in developing policies and creating a hospital culture that supports donation. “We’ve worked a lot with Midwest Transplant Network and Saving Sight to make sure when someone is eligible to be a donor, we do everything we can so they have the opportunity to donate,” she said. Darin Manlove (pictured far right), Saving Sight’s partner relations coordinator, added, “They have a stable team at St. Francis that maintains a culture supportive of donation. Their staff education includes donation, and the hospital administration is very supportive of donation.” The committee is comprised of people from several departments, including nurses from various units, chaplains, and typically someone from the hospital’s ethics committee. “We don’t have that many deaths like in a bigger city, but it’s satisfying to the staff to know they helped play a part for the recipients,” Beth said. When a patient from St. Francis becomes an eye donor, Saving Sight provides the staff with follow-up information to let them know who was helped by that particular donation. “The feedback we get from Saving Sight helps us understand and be better,” she said. “It’s nice to know we were successful and somebody was helped.” Beth finds Kansas’ first-person consent registry, initiated in 2010, to be helpful at her hospital. Through the new registry, Kansans can make an official determination to become a donor at time of death. “The registry takes the agony out of [the choice to donate] for the families because the decision’s already made,” Beth said. That’s why Beth and her team hold regular organ, eye, and tissue donor registry drives at their hospital. “It helps, and it works,” she said. “The drives make people more aware.” Increasing awareness about donation and the donor registry has been a key objective for Beth and her team. “We had a program in November where we had donors, family members of donors, and recipients speak,” Beth said. “Someone who worked here had a liver transplant, so with that personal connection, listening to her story was pretty awe-inspiring.” Last year the staff and administration coordinated to have the hospital’s fountain dyed green, the official color of donation. “That was pretty fun,” she said. “Sometimes I think people who work outside the patient care area don’t know as much about eye and organ donation. It’s pretty cool to get their attention – they saw it.” These tactics seem to be working. The consent rate for eye donation increased 7% last fiscal year, and 22 people received cornea transplants in 2013 thanks to generous donors at St Francis Health Center. Darin Manlove, who nominated Beth and her team for Champion of Donation, said, “They are all very committed to donation. At every donor council meeting we discuss ways to improve the donation process and ensure every possible donor has the best chance to donate. Beth leads the group by example.” Join Beth and the team of St. Francis Health Center by joining your state’s donor registry either online at donatelife.net or in person at your local Department of Motor Vehicles office. Perspectives | Page 9
Thanks to our generous donors: July 1, 2013 - March 31, 2014 Champion
Protector
Protector
Gifts of $2500 or more Community Foundation of the Ozarks Greater St. Louis Health Foundation Mildred Dial Estate Missouri Foundation for Health Sarah Billingsley Trust Thorp Foundation Virginia L. Eberwein Estate
Gifts of $249-$100 Alabama Eye Bank Ms. Brenda Barber Mr. & Mrs. Tony & Julie Bavuso Mr. & Mrs. Peter Beckers PCC Al & PDG Debbie Blumenberg Ms. Norma Bond Ms. Myrtle Braden Mr. Glen Brandt Mrs. Shirley Bruner Ms. Sharon Bryson Mr. & Mrs. Earl and Joyce Caldwell Mr. Fredrick Caldwell Mr. Hershel Casey Central Missouri Electric Cooperative Mr. & Mrs. Richard Chiles Mr. & Mrs. William Chisholm PDG Gary & Lion Donna Clarkson Clayton Corporation Mr. Fred Collins Ms. Frances Cooper Mr. & Mrs. James & Gayle Cox D.E. Garner & Associates Ms. Dixie Davidson Mrs. Luella Davin Mr. George Davis Mrs. Ann Dechant Mr. John DeLaMare Mrs. Betty DeLuce Mr. Robert Duddy Ms. Betty Fager Farmers Ag & Grain Supply, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Michael & Sheila Fields Ms. Charlene Friedman Mr. Joseph Gadberry Mr. Thomas Gibbens Mrs. Lois Gilham Mr. & Mrs. Paul and Betty Gournoe Lions Walter & Kathleen Green Mrs. Arlene Griffiths Mr. & Mrs. John Harper Ms. Leona Henschen Ms. Mary Jean Hirsh Mrs. Susan Holley Mr. Michael Horton Ms. Rosann Huninghake Mrs. Elizabeth Jaeger Mr. David Jeffrey Ms. Ruth Judd Ms. Salley Kidd Ms. Doris Kinker Ms. Jerri Knight Mr. Lyle Krohn Mr. & Mrs. Joe & Annie Kuhl Mrs. Dorothy Laverentz
Gifts of $249-$100 Lions Business Opportunities for the Missouri Blind Ms. Norma Lockwood Mrs. Helen Maler Mrs. Joyce McDaniel Ms. Ione McIntyre Ms. Carol McJessy Mr. Lawrence Meyr Mrs. Geraldine Nelson Ms. Tamara Oberbeck Oddo Development Ms. Donnette Oehmke Ms. Rieta O’Neal Mr. James Orwig Lions Ronald & Mary Pauley Mr. & Mrs. Marion & Carol Pember Mr. & Mrs. Gene Potter Mr. & Mrs. Paul & Katherine Rehor Mr. Cecil Reid Mrs. Dorothy Richardson Ms. Madonna Riesenmy Mrs. Dorothy Robbins Mrs. Annette Ruether Ms. Emilie Runge PDG Ken & Lion Olivia Schimel Dr. John Schiro Mrs. Sherma Scott Mr. & Mrs. John & Jacquelyn Settlage Mr. Norbert Shankin Mr. Steven Sickinger Mrs. Caroline Signor Ms. Effie Simmons Mr. John Simon PDG Robert & Lion Reta Smith Mrs. Jean Stark Mr. & Mrs. Allen & Betsy Marie Sterner Delta Systems Mr. Robert Taylor Ms. Helen L. Thompson Ms. Gretchen Tinkle Mr. & Mrs. Mark & Brenda Tolmachoff True Manufacturing Company Mr. Russell Turner United Way of Wyandotte County, Inc. Ms. Helen Vaughan Mrs. Helen Vaughn Mr. & Mrs. John & Christa Vizner Mrs. Denise Voyles Mrs. Beverly Warner Mr. Henry Waters lll Ms. Ila M. Watts West Central Electric Cooperative, Inc. Mr. Herbert Wilson Mr. Edmond Wolfram
Leader Gifts of $2499-$1000 Mr. Wayne & PDG Jene Crook Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts MFA Foundation Numedis Inc. PDG John & Lion Kathy Reese Ms. Mildred Sharp Mr. & Mrs. Jon & Maxine Simmons
Guardian Gifts of $999-$500 Mr. Douglas Black Ms. Laverne Lutte Mrs. Sharon Nicholls North American Conference of Lions Foundations Ms. Jane Phillips Ms. Thelma Rellergert Dr. Dan Schoenleber Mr. Lewis Southerland Southland Medical Corporation Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph Ms. Anne Waters PDG Jerry & Lion Judy Young
Defender
Giving is Easy
Gifts of $499-$250 Mr. John Bailey Mr. Ronald Burrows Ms. Ann Carney Gascosage Electric Cooperative Ms. Eleanor Goodwin Mrs. Jane Hood Lion Allen & Ruth Lohsandt Mr. Barrie Mebane Mr. Robert Pirmantgen Mrs. Eleanor Ramsey Mr. & Mrs. Tim & Amber Lynne Redburn Mr. & Mrs. Thomas & Yvonne Rocco Mrs. Nancy Rohan Mr. & Mrs. Michael & Connie Scott VDG Emery Smola VRL Laboratories Mr. Robert Zorn
KidSight and our community vision programs are funded thanks to financial donations from our generous supporters. For example, your gift of $100 will help us screen at least 10 children for common vision problems.
You can mail a check to us at: 404 Portland St. Columbia, MO 65201 Perspectives | Page 10
You can make a donation or establish a recurring gift through saving-sight.org/give.
Lions Club Giving: July 1, 2013 - March 31, 2014 Lion Sight Saver
Lion Patron
Lion Patron
Gifts of $2000 and more Cape Girardeau Lions Creve Coeur Lions Hermann Lions Jonesburg Lions Lions All-Star Basketball Classic - Dist. M6 Lions Disaster Response Team of Western Missouri Missouri Lions Multiple District 26 Past District Governor Association, District 26-M5 St. Joseph Host Lions Webster Groves Lions
Gifts of $1999 to $1000 Chesterfield Lions Hamilton Lions Houston Lions Jefferson City Evening Lions Lake Winnebago Lions Linn Lions Mexico Host Lions Monett Lions
Gifts of $1999 to $1000 Paris Lions Rolla Lions Sedalia Lions Springfield Queen City Lions Summit Versailles Lions Washington Lions
Lion Benefactor
Lion Benefactor
Lion Benefactor
Gifts of up to $999 Alma Lions Bernie Lions Branson-Hollister Lions Brookfield Lions Buffalo Lions Camdenton Lions Cape Girardeau Evening Lions Christian County Lions Columbia 20/20 Lions Columbia Host Lions Diamond Lions East Perry County Lions Eldon Lions Elkland Lions Fairport Lions Farmington Lions Fenton Lions Gainesville Lions Gallatin Lions Garden City Noon Lions Glasgow Lions Grayville Lions Club Hale Lions Harrisburg Lions Harrisonville Lions Hartville Lions Higginsville Lions High Hill Lions Holts Summit Lions Huntsville Lions Independence Host Lions Independence Noland Road Lions
Gifts of up to $999 Jefferson City Breakfast Lions Jefferson City Capital Lions Jefferson City Host Lions Jonesburg Lionesses Kahoka Lions Kansas City Red Bridge Lions Kennett Lions Kimberling City Lions Knob Noster Lions La Grange Lions Lebanon Host Lions Lee’s Summit Lions Lexington Lions Lions District 13-A Lions District 20-E2 Lions District 5-SKN Lions of Georgia District 18-I Louisburg Lions Louisiana Lions Macon Lions Madison Lioness Malden Lions Marceline Lions Marionville Lions Marshall Lions Meramec Heights Lions Mexico Noon Lions Missouri Lions District 26-M6 Moberly Lions Morrisville Lions Moscow Mills Lions Mountain Grove Lions
Gifts of up to $999 Nelson Lions Nevada Lions New Florence Lions Norborne Lions Northwest Texas County Lions O’Fallon Lions Old Monroe Lions Past District Governors of District 26 M2 Pickering Lions Platte City Lions Pleasant Hill Lions Prairie Home Lions Raymore Lions Republic Lions Rock Port Lions Sainte Genevieve Lions Salisbury Lions Seymour Lions Smithville Lions Springfield Evening Lions Springfield Host Lions St. Louis Downtown Lions Trenton Lions Unionville Lions Wappapello Lions Warrensburg Lions Wellington Lions Wentzville Lions West Plains Lions Weston Lions Woodson Terrace Lions Wright City Lions
Gifts in Memory Lions Carl & Stacy Baker Richard Antrobus Bob Bachtel Sarah Billingsley Lion Bill Bruner David Bruns PDG Dan Buschmann Ellen Caldwell Cecil Cunningham Ida Diehm PDG Alvin Duffner Kay Enloe Lion Lou Erickson Leroy Fenton James Haake Dave Harris Carol Heller Lion Laura Helmich
Lion Herbert C. James PDG Donald Jones Lion Ruth Kloepfer Peggy Krieg Karen Lurvey Gayle Mages Lion Ed Maisonheimer PDG Don Matlock PDG George McCormick Larry Miskel Mary M. Morris Stephen Norman Sam Parker Claire Pettengill Alta Louise Pulliam Charles Rampley Christopher Rehor James Ruether
Marilyn Schaefer Lion Herman W. Schulte Kathy Snipes Richard J. Sporleder Lion David Sterne Lou Stoll Sharon Taylor Ruth Thorpe Dick Tongate Floyd “Chuck” Townsend Ed Trainor Lion Ed Wankum PDG Vince Warren PDG Ralph Wienke Frances “Nadine” Williams Alice Wise Perspectives | Page 11
Friends of Saving Sight: July 1, 2013 - March 31, 2014 Gifts up to $99
Mr. & Mrs. Leland & Sue Adams Mr. & Mrs. Victor & Jo Ann Adams Mr. & Mrs. David & Mary Lee Aholt Mr. & Mrs. Don & Barbara Alsup Mr. & Mrs. Randy & Grace Anderson Mrs. Marilyn Andre Mrs. Avis Arellanes Ms. Sylvia Armstrong Mr. Robert Asel Ms. Vida Ashley Ms. Victoria Atkins Ms. Patricia Avery Lion Brad Baker Mr. & Mrs. Larry & Debbie Balk Mr. & Mrs. Thomas & Ann Ballard Mr. & Mrs. Larry & Helen Ballman Mr. Albert Barnett Mrs. Barbara Baser Mr. & Mrs. Don & Brenda Beaty Mr. & Mrs. Maurice & Mary Benskin Mrs. Mary Blake Mrs. Phyllis Bosley Ms. Donna Bouye Mr. & Mrs. Daryl & Kelly Bowles Mr. & Mrs. Stephen & Ginger Brinker Mr. Andrew Brown Mr. & Mrs. Kevin & Nicole Brueggemann Ms. Verna Burchett Ms. Kathy Busen Mr. & Mrs. Cecil & Phyllis Caldwell Ms. Elvia Caldwell Mr. & Mrs. Jim & Jewel Caldwell Ms. Trudy Caldwell Mrs. Donna Carlen Ms. Miriam Carroll Mr. Richard Carswell Mr. Ernest Chance Pat Chrisenberry Mrs. Janice Church Ms. Georganna Clark Mr. William Clarkson Mr. Paul Coleman Ms. Lillian Collins Continental Title Holding Company Mr. Thomas Cook Mr. & Mrs. Paul & Mary Ann Coulter Curtis & Sons, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Mike & Peggy Curto David Barton Elementary School Staff Mr. Jerry Davis Mrs. Susan Dean Mr. John Deden Ms. Helen Duerksen Mr. James Duitsman Ms. Kimberly Edwards Mr. & Mrs. Leland & Karen Elliott
Mr. & Mrs. Larry & Barbara Elliott Mr. & Mrs. Charles & Joyce Embree Mr. Roy Enloe Mr. George Estabrook Ms. Carolyn Falcomata Mr. Richard Fede Mr. & Mrs. Richard & Mary Ann Felkel Mr. Larry Fischer Mr. & Mrs. Gary & Patti Freeman PID Dwayne & Lion Jeanette Garrett Mr. & Mrs. Bob & Betty Garton Mr. Albert Gates Ms. Melinda Gaul Mr. & Mrs. Garry & Terri Gerhart Mrs. Catherine Gildehaus Mr. & Mrs. Ray Goings Ms. Joan Goodwin Greene Hills Ladies Golf Association Ms. Mae Gribble Mr. Wallace Gross Ms. Mary Guest Ms. Elsa Guidi Mr. & Mrs. Rex Gump Hackman Electric Ms. June Haer Mr. Max Harral Mr. Russell Harris Ms. Christina Harris Mr. & Mrs. Jim and Rama Hart Ms. Eleanor Haughton Mr. Ronald Heinz Lion Becky Henderson Ms. Amy Henry Hermann Area Chamber of Commerce Mr. & Mrs. Ammon & Marlene Hizer Mr. Roy Garey Hodge Mr. William Hoffman Mr. Jerry Holcomb Mr. & Mrs. Brian & Dawn Holt Mrs. Betty Horinek Mrs. Joan Hughes Mr. Vernon Humphrey Syed Huq Ms. Darlene Isaacs Ms. Gertrude Isringhausen Mr. & Mrs. Owen & Pat Jackson Ms. Leona Jacobs Mr. Albert Jarosik Jasper County Title Company Mr. Delbert Johnston Mrs. Eleanor Jones Mrs. Jean Jones Sudarshan Kapoor Mr. Alvin Kelley Mr. & Mrs. Richard & Janice Klenke Ms. Darlene Knoerle Mrs. Bettie Koelling
In October 2013, KidSight reached an incredible milestone: 300,000 children screened since the program began in 1995.
Mr. Melvin Koester Korean War Veterans Auxiliary Mr. & Mrs. Paul & Cecelia Landgraf BJ & DR Lehenbauer Ms. Elaine Lehmann Mrs. Dorothy Levy Ms. Mary Linneman Mr. Richard Litton Mr. and Mrs. Lance Livesay Mr. James Maendele Mr. & Mrs. John & Kathleen Manion Mr. & Mrs. Ron & Barbara Marsek Mr. Terry McCallum Ms. Doris McCann Ms. Juanita McCreight Mrs. Ellen McDonnell Ms. Aura Melendez Scott, Stacy, & Molly Mertz Mr. & Mrs. Marty & Christi Miller Mrs. Marilyn Miller Mr. & Mrs. William & Betty Moon Mr. Donald E. Morris Mrs. Gabriella Mountain Natural Healing Centers Mrs. Pauline Nelson Ms. Ramona Neumann Mrs. Fern Newsom Newton’s Total Care Mrs. Belva Niemann Mr. & Mrs. James & Patricia Norris Mrs. Vivian Norton Mr. & Mrs. Michael & Tammy Olszowka Mr. & Mrs. Eric & Linda Otten Ms. Caroline Overton Mr. William Oyler Ms. Georgette Page Ms. Sandra Painter Ms. Martha Parker Mr. & Mrs. Ralph & Betty Paschall PDG Stuart & Lion Marlene Payne Ms. Helen Pearl Ms. Elfriede Pence Ms. Flo Praiswater Mr. Arsenio Quanguey Mr. & Mrs. Kenny & Susan Rains Ms. Jasmine Reese Ms. Pat Renaud Mr. & Mrs. Gary & Janice Reynolds Ms. Marcia Rhodes Sr. Teresa Riley Mr. Marvin O. Ross Mr. & Mrs. Sherman & Dora Rotskoff Mr. Daniel Ruether Mrs. Norma Russell Mr. & Mrs. Gary Samuel Mr. & Mrs. Fred & Brenda Schaffer Ms. Julia Schellch
Ms. Ann Schonhoff Mr. Elmer Schott Security Abstract & Title, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Louis & Karen Shaw Mrs. Patricia Shoemake Mr. & Mrs. Dan Sieve Ms. Florence Simon Mr. & Mrs. Steve & Denise Sloniker Ms. Elsie Smith Ms. Ava Nell Smith Ms. Janis Smith Mr. Emmet Spearing Ms. Sandra Speck Mr. Wilson Speer Ms. Linda Squire Ms. Lisa Stanck Mrs. Esther Steinhauer Ms. Shirley Steinmeyer Mr. Donald Stewart Mrs. Charlene Stewart Ms. Joyce Stewart Ms. Pearl Stonebraker Mr. Kenneth Stormer Mr. & Mrs. Mark & Patricia Stretz Ms. Marjorie Strouse Ms. Betty Swanson Mr. Samuel Tarson Ms. Mary Lee Tigner Mr. Roger Toelkes Ms. Magdalena Trick Mrs. Nadine Trollinger Mr. Jack Turner Mrs. Carol Valdiviez Mr. William Vance Mr. & Mrs. Bruce & Margaret Viertel Ms. Joyce Virtue Dr. Bill Waddell Lion Ron Walkenbach Dr. & Mrs. Jay & Rosemary Ward Mrs. La Von Warner Ms. G. Faye Watson Ms. Alice Wehmhoener Mr. Jerome Weiler Mr. & Mrs. Larry & Martha Weldon Ms. Beverly Wilcox Mr. & Mrs. Brent and Carol Wilhelm Ms. Mary Wilkerson Mr. Russell Williamson Mr. & Mrs. Jim & Nancy Wilson Mr. & Mrs. Harold & Bonnie Wilson Ms. Jacqueline Wimmer Ms. Doris Wittig Mr. & Mrs. Harry & Carol Woodruff Mr. & Mrs. Barbara & Mark Wooldridge Mr. Thomas Zach Mr. & Mrs. Lorenzo & Maria Zavala
300,000
Donors 7 1 2 8 3 8 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 5 4 61.5 1 1 1 1 2 23.5 11 2 3 1 1 1 4 12 1 1 1 1 6 4 2 1 5 2 1 8 23 2 2 5 8 5 2 60 6 2
Transplants 9 0 2 11 3 11 2 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 1 2 4 41 2 1 2 1 2 15 20 2 4 1 0 2 5 15 0 2 0 0 6 2 3 2 7 2 0 10 15 2 1 4 8 4 0 34 8 4
Hospital Performance: January 1 - March 31, 2014
Hospital / Hospice Name Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital (IL) Audrain Medical Center (MO) Bob Wilson Memorial Grant County Hospital (KS) Boone Hospital Center (MO) Bothwell Regional Health Center (MO) Capital Region Medical Center (MO) Carlinville Area Hospital (IL) Christian County Coroner (MO) Citizens Medical Center (KS) Citizens Memorial Healthcare (MO) Clay County Hospital (IL) Coffey County Hospital (KS) Comanche County Hospital (KS) Community Hospital Onaga (KS) Community Memorial Healthcare (KS) Cox Medical Center Branson (MO) CoxHealth Systems - Monett (MO) CoxHealth Systems - South (MO) Douglas County Coroner (KS) Ellett Memorial Hospital (MO) Fairfax Community Hospital (MO) Fitzgibbon Memorial Hospital (MO) Freeman Health Systems - Neosho (MO) Freeman Health Systems - West (MO) Frontier Forensics (KS) Geary Community Hospital (KS) Golden Valley Memorial Hospital (MO) Great Bend Regional Hospital (KS) Hamilton County Hospital (KS) Harrison County Community Hospital (MO) Harry S. Truman Veterans Hospital (MO) Heartland Regional Medical Center (MO) Herington Municipal Hospital (KS) Hiawatha Community Hospital (KS) Hospice (IL) Hospice of Reno County, Inc (KS) Hutchinson Regional Medical Center (KS) Kansas City VA Medical Center (MO) Labette Health (KS) Lafayette Regional Health Center (MO) Lake Regional Hospital (MO) Landmark Hospital of Columbia (MO) Landmark Hospital of Joplin (MO) Lawrence Memorial Hospital (KS) Memorial Medical Center (IL) Mercy Health Center - Fort Scott (KS) Mercy Hospital - Cassville (MO) Mercy Hospital - Independence (KS) Mercy Hospital - Jefferson (MO) Mercy Hospital - Joplin (MO) Mercy Hospital - Lebanon (MO) Mercy Hospital - Springfield (MO) Mercy Hospital, Washington (MO) Mercy Maude Norton Memorial Hospital (KS)
48,000
48,000 Americans will require a cornea transplant this year to restore their vision due to corneal disease or injury.
Hospital Performance: January 1 - March 31, 2014
Hospital / Hospice Name Mercy McCune - Brooks (MO) Mercy Regional Health Center - College Campus (KS) Meyer Orthopedic & Rehabilitation Hospital (MO) Miami County Medical Center (KS) Minneola District Hospital (KS) Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems (KS) Morris County Hospital (KS) Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center (KS) Nevada Regional Medical Center (MO) Newman Regional Health (KS) Newton Medical Center (KS) Northeast Regional Medical Center (MO) Northwest Medical Center (MO) Norton County Hospital (KS) Olathe Medical Center (KS) Ottawa County Hospital (KS) Ozarks Medical Center (MO) Paris Community Hospital (IL) Passavant Area Hospital (IL) Pershing Memorial Hospital (MO) Phelps County Regional Medical Center (MO) Pike County Memorial Hospital (MO) Providence Medical Center (KS) Ransom Memorial Hospital (KS) Rice County District Hospital (KS) Russell Regional Hospital (KS) Salem Memorial District Hospital (MO) Samaritan Memorial Hospital (MO) Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System (IL) Scotland County Hospital (MO) Scott County Hospital (KS) Select Specialty Hospital - Kansas City (KS) Select Specialty Hospital - Topeka (KS) Select Specialty Hospital of Springfield (MO) Smith County Memorial Hospital (KS) St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital (IL) St. Catherine Hospital (KS) St. Francis Hospital - Litchfield (IL) St. Francis Hospital - Topeka (KS) St. John's Hospital (IL) St. Luke Hospital & Living Center (KS) St. Luke's Cushing Hospital (KS) St. Marys Good Samaritan - Centralia (IL) St. Mary's Health Center - Jefferson City (MO) Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital (MO) Texas County Memorial Hospital (MO) Trego County - Lemke Memorial Hospital (KS) University Hospital and Clinics (MO) University of Kansas Hospital (KS) Via Christi Health (KS) Wamego City Hospital (KS) Washington County Memorial Hospital (MO) Western Missouri Medical Center (MO) Wilson Medical Center (KS)
Donors 1.5 2 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 4 1 1 7 2 1 1 2 1 7 1 5 1 1 1 2 1 4 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 4 2 4 23 1 2 1 11 1 2 1 20 21 4 1 2 2 1
Transplants 0 4 1 4 0 2 2 2 2 4 2 6 0 2 10 4 0 2 4 0 8 1 10 2 0 1 2 2 5 0 0 0 2 3 0 4 0 3 4 21 2 4 0 19 0 2 1 32 28 2 2 0 4 2
7
7 people received a cornea transplant each day through tissue provided by Saving Sight in 2013. By partnering with your hospital, we can help even more people receive the gift of sight in 2014.
Saving Sight would like to thank the staff members of Freeman Health System and Mercy Hospital Joplin for hosting the Joplin Celebration of Life/Rose Dedication Ceremony together on April 22 as well as all of their time and effort spent in support of donation throughout the year.
Thanks to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for their ongoing support of donation. On March 14, the hospital supported an informational table in the atrium for National Eye Donor Month. Staff and the public were able to stop by and ask questions to learn about organ, tissue, and cornea donation.
St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, IL adopted a program from the Kyle Zuleg Foundation to provide comfort and support to organ donor families during the donation process. When consent for organ donation has been obtained, a “Forever in our Hearts” monogrammed blanket, provided by the Foundation, is hand-delivered to the family by a St. John’s employee. The hospital’s organ and tissue donation committee is a strong advocate for donation, understanding that the families are facing the tragic loss of someone they love. Learn more at www.kyleshineson.org.
Partner Relations Contacts Saving Sight’s partner relations staff members work to communicate with local hospitals, medical centers and hospices about donation. Listed below is the contact information and service area for each of our Partner Relations Coordinators.
Springfield Kansas City
Hutchinson
Springfield
Hutchinson, KS Darin Manlove 620-259-7388 dmanlove@saving-sight.org
Kansas City, MO Justina Barnes RN, BSN 816-454-5454 x128 jbarnes@saving-sight.org
Springfield, MO Kharim Strayhorn 417-882-1532 x1014 kstrayhorn@saving-sight.org
Springfield, IL Michala Stoker Interim 816-454-5454 x142 mstoker@saving-sight.org
404 Portland Street Columbia, MO 65201 P: 800-753-2265 F: 573-443-1657 saving-sight.org
Nonprofit Org US Postage PAID St. Louis MO Permit #4400
Dr. Ronald Walkenbach Corneal Transplant Fellowship To honor Dr. Walkenbach’s achievements and recognize his love of research, Saving Sight has started a legacy program in his name: the Dr. Ronald Walkenbach Corneal Transplant Fellowship. The program will honor his service by advancing innovation in corneal transplantation through collaborative partnerships with corneal surgeons. To make a financial contribution in support of Dr. Walkenbach’s legacy program, give online at www.saving-sight.org/give or send a check to 404 Portland St., Columbia, MO 65201 with a note mentioning this program.