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Caring for Tissue Donors in New Ways
Working as part of a donation recovery team can be a difficult yet rewarding job. The LifeSource Tissue Team has developed new ways to make meaningful connections while honoring donors.
The LifeSource Tissue Team has been working to find ways to deepen their connection and incorporate meaningful practices in their work.
Connecting With Our Purpose
One of the most incredible things about tissue donation is the fact that grafts can be stored for years before they are transplanted. This allows medical teams to search a large inventory of grafts to find the best possible match for their patient’s needs.
This means that the teams who recover the grafts often will not know when and where the grafts will be utilized and the incredible impact on the recipients of those grafts.
To help close the gap between the work the tissue team does and the impact it has, they decided to establish the Tissue Team Connect to Purpose Committee, dedicated to enriching the work of the recovery staff through the acknowledgment and recognition of the donors.
In addition to several initiatives, the team also incorporates donor, donor family and tissue recipient stories into team meetings and their workspace. This ranges from hearing from donor families, sharing letters from recipients, and learning about the selfless acts of giving and the triumphs over injury and illness from recipients.
Moment of Acknowledgement
The Moment of Acknowledgement is a statement read before the beginning of each recovery to honor and acknowledge the selfless act of donation as well as to recognize that the space becomes sacred when a family entrusts their loved one into our care.
The Moment of Acknowledgment draws inspiration from the Moment of Silence, which is read before every organ donation case. This practice was adopted to ensure that all donors are honored equitably.
Meaningful Melodies
A collaboration between the Tissue Team and the Donor Service Center, Meaningful Melodies plays music during the recovery that was special to the donor. Music has long been present during recoveries. Meaningful Melodies is a practice where team members intentionally play music for donors that they would have enjoyed hearing.
Below is a short list of some of the songs and artists that the team has had the pleasure of incorporating into recoveries:
- Friends in low Places: Garth Brooks
- Long way home: Super tramp
- Pursuit of happiness: Kid Cudi
- Proud to be an American: Lee Greenwood
- Johnny Cash: Collection
This initiative continues to evolve and the Tissue Team hopes to put it into practice during shared organ and tissue cases.
As the number of tissue donors grows, our teams continues to look for new ways to celebrate, honor, and acknowledge donors for the lives they lived and the incredible gift they have given.
Learn More About Tissue Donation
What is Tissue Donation? (Video)
Sharing Your Decision to Be a Donor
Would Certain Conditions or Diseases Make You Ineligible to Donate?