Lifebanc

The top ten fundraising teams are an elite group that is dedicated to the mission of organ, eye, and tissue donation and Lifebanc. We are grateful to all our fantastic teams that came together to meet our goal of $275,000. We look forward to seeing you next year in 2025! 👏

This month, Lifebanc proudly awarded Challenge Coins to several remarkable individuals who continue to promote and support organ, eye, and tissue donation. 👏 It was a genuine privilege to acknowledge Dr. Michael Joyce, our long-serving Tissue Medical Director, for his steadfast dedication to tissue donation and transplantation advocacy both on a local and national level. Carole Vaught, Director of Recovery Partners at Solvita, was honored for her enduring commitment to Lifebanc and her contributions to the donation community. We wish Carole the best in her upcoming retirement journey! We were also delighted to recognize Stacy Farhan from The MetroHealth System (Cleveland, OH), who has led the way in implementing electronic consults to make the donation process more efficient for the healthcare team. A sincere thank you goes out to Sergeant Mayra Valentino, Medical Records & Compliance Officer with the City of Cleveland - City Hall, who has ensured timely provision of essential medical information to Lifebanc for over twenty years, enabling individuals to become donors. Together, we continue to make a difference. 💚💙

Navigating Challenges in Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation Organ procurement organizations (OPOs) have been around for over 40 years, with fewer than 55 OPOs serving the United States. Our Lifebanc team serves as the critical link between donor families, donor hospitals, and transplant centers to ensure that organ, eye, and tissue donations happen every day. At the heart of our work is supporting the donor and their family. We also collaborate closely with hospitals and transplant centers to coordinate the donation process. It's important to note that Lifebanc staff are never off-call. Since we can’t predict when a death will occur or when a transplant will be needed, we operate 24/7, 365 days a year. Our team manages every aspect of the donation process—from screening referral calls and obtaining consent from donor families to optimizing organs and tissues and managing the recovery. We also handle the preservation, packaging and transportation of organs and tissues. Finally, we offer follow-up grief support and continued care to donor families for up to two years, if they choose. The work in the OPO field is deeply emotional. Every day, we strive to transform a donor hero’s tragic loss into life-saving and healing gifts for strangers. One of my proudest moments as CEO was watching our team navigate the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many worked from home, our essential medical personnel continued to enter hospitals, recover organs and tissues, and save lives. Despite the hardships, we achieved record numbers of lives saved in both years. We continue to face challenges, including the lack of trust in organ, eye, and tissue donation within some communities, particularly communities of color. Overcoming this barrier through education and outreach remains essential. More recently, our industry has faced external disruptions and uncertainty. Still, Lifebanc remains committed to its mission. No matter the challenges, I know our team rises to the occasion with unwavering dedication. Ultimately, none of this would be possible without the generous and heroic donors and their families who say yes to donations. Their courage and selflessness make every miracle possible. It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight Risin' up to the challenge of our rival. Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

Now hiring! 📣 Join the Lifebanc team as a Family Support Liaison III. This position is responsible for ensuring that all donors and potential donor families are offered the opportunity for donation through the collaboration with Lifebanc staff and hospital staff members. Are you or someone you know a great fit? Read more about this position, our company benefits and more: https://bit.ly/4enkHzn #hiring #lifebanc #organdonation #openpositions

We are hiring! 📣 Join the Lifebanc team as a Family Services Manager. This position supports the mission, goals, and strategic plan by overseeing cross department collaboration and external collaboration with the donor hospitals in the development and implementation of educational and quality programs related to donation. Learn more and apply today: https://bit.ly/47oAg7S

🌟 **Celebrating Our Dedicated Team!** 🌟 Today, our incredible staff came together for a dynamic workshop with The DiJulius Group focused on enhancing the experience we provide to our partners and communities, all to make organ donation possible. 💚 From sharing new perspectives and providing ideas to refining our approach, our team is more committed than ever to creating meaningful connections, providing compassionate support, and ensuring every step of the donation process is as seamless and impactful as possible. A huge thank you to everyone who participated and shared their passion, expertise and collaboration. Together, we are making a difference, one donation at a time. Here’s to continuing our mission and making every experience extraordinary! 💪 A special thank you to Marcus Thomas LLC for allowing us to use your beautiful space. #Teamwork #Innovation #OrganDonation #MakingADifference #UltimateExperience #CommunityImpact

Congratulations to Jacques Smith, Lifebanc board member and liver recipient, for being featured as a Mover and Shaker in the September issue of CODE Magazine! View the full issue here: https://bit.ly/3XdleNA Or, learn more about his story: https://bit.ly/3XeOWld

How Organ Donation Has Evolved Over the Past 40 Years This industry has evolved significantly from performing only kidney and liver transplants in the 1980s to facilitating up to eight organ transplants per donor. OPO staff have transitioned from multitasking across many functions to highly specialized roles. Organ allocation has shifted from primarily local utilization to broader sharing across the U.S. The change from local to broader organ sharing represents a major advancement, as we now operate within a national network that maximizes the chances of matching donors with recipients. When I joined Lifebanc in 2000, one of our biggest challenges was the restriction on recovering donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors, which stemmed from negative media coverage in 1997. I am particularly proud that we overcame this barrier, and today, DCD donations at Lifebanc have surpassed brain-dead donations in 2024. Innovation and research have been central to Lifebanc's progress. In 2010, we built a new administrative building, followed by a state-of-the-art donor care facility in 2016. This facility has enabled us to transfer donors from hospitals and perform recoveries in-house. Our 20+ year focus on research has led to groundbreaking projects, including the first face transplant and uterus transplant in the U.S. from a deceased donor. Additionally, we have partnered with transplant centers on local organ preservation devices and tissue-specific research related to preservation and disease prevention. We also collaborated with InVita on an electronic medical record project called "I-Referral," making the Cleveland Clinic Health System the first to implement I-Referral across all hospitals in NE Ohio. This project has streamlined the donor hospital referral process, improving efficiency and allowing nurses and physicians to dedicate more time to their other patients. Despite these advancements, one constant remains: the unwavering dedication of our Lifebanc staff. Their commitment to saving and healing lives ensures that miracles happen every day in organ, eye, and tissue donation and transplantation. Don't Stop Believin'  Hold on to that feeling “Don't Stop Believin'” – Journey

Though #MinorityDonorAwarenessMonth is wrapping up, our commitment to addressing the disparities in organ donation within minority communities remains stronger than ever. Lifebanc's Community Outreach Program Manager, Edmund Wilson III and 75-year-old heart transplant recipient, Charlene Boyd, offer powerful insights into the cultural stigmas and misinformation surrounding organ donation. See their full stories: https://lnkd.in/gqszU5MW

This week, Lifebanc hosted an expert panel education session that included teams from Cleveland Clinic, The MetroHealth System (Cleveland, OH), Lifebanc and InVita Healthcare Technologies to explore and learn about the benefits of adopting electronic consults to enhance organ donation and transplantation opportunities through technological innovation. Lifebanc had the privilege of awarding these trailblazers with the Lifebanc Challenge Coin in recognition of their dedication to advancing and improving the donation process within our hospital network. Congratulations to William Vorhees, Melinda Otero, Micheal Dondero, Wade Liu and Stacy Farnan, and thank you for all your inspirational work! 👏