Donor Registry
Every few minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the phone rings at the LifeGift Communications Center in Houston. It’s immediately answered by a team of more than 20 dedicated employees who understand that each call can potentially save or enhance the lives of up to 80 individuals.
The state-of-the-art Communications Center receives and coordinates tissue and organ referrals in LifeGift’s service area, which covers 200 hospitals. Because it is required by law for each hospital to report every death to LifeGift – more than 30,000 each year – the “Comm Center” maintains a fast-paced, yet focused environment.
Communications Center specialists assess each referral for donation suitability, based on such criteria as age, cause of death and medical history. When a potential donor is identified, the specialist will notify fellow LifeGift staff members to report to the hospital and begin the donation process.
For potential tissue-only donors, Center specialists must secure consent from the families – through a phone call. It’s during these times that the specialists’ gift for communication truly shines. Using calm, reassuring voices, the specialists provide comfort to the families while explaining the great need for tissue donation. They discuss which tissues can be donated and how they could be used, and answer any questions. Once the families understand all of the options, the specialists ask for consent to donate their loved ones’ tissues.
The innovative approach used by the Communications Center has been a model for numerous tissue and organ recovery agencies nationwide. And thanks in part to the skill of the Center’s staff, LifeGift Tissue Recovery Services recovers close to 1,500 donations of bone, skin, heart valves, saphenous veins and femoral veins each year – improving the lives of potentially thousands of cancer patients, burn victims, children born with congenital defects and others.