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LifeGift Employee Celebrates Significant Milestone
Friday, June 8, 2012
Special Milestone
Donation specialist, Ivy Vincent, will mark a special milestone with 20 years of service on June 10. Over the last 20 years, Ivy has held different positions within the organization and has watched the organ donation industry evolve over time.
Ivy started his career with LifeGift as a minority requester, approaching African-American families about donation. He was in the first class to complete Certified Procurement Transplant Coordinator (CPTC) training with NATCO, the professional organization for transplant professionals. He is published in Clinician Guide to Donation and Transplantation, a NATCO publication.
From his role as requester, he moved to the position of community liaison, where his focus was mostly on minority education and outreach.
He served as program director for the Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP) grant, the first program of its kind in the country designed to educate minority communities on organ and tissue transplantation and to empower them to get involved with the cause. The overall mission of MOTTEP was to decrease the number and rate of ethnic minority Americans needing organ and tissue transplants. This was continued through the Dow Chemical Historical Black College Donor Awareness Program at Prairie View A&M.
"Among the roles I've played at LifeGift, working on the MOTTEP grant was the most rewarding. The program received city, state and local accolades," said Ivy.
Ivy also worked on the Michael Jordan Campaign to promote donation awareness among minorities, in conjunction with the United States Postal Office. Ivy served on the minority affairs and patient access committees of UNOS and was a community advocate for donation with the Black Minister's Advisory Committee to former mayor of Houston, Lee Brown.
When asked what changes he's seen over the last 20 years, Ivy said one of the greatest changes has been the push to create more education opportunities to raise awareness about donation among multicultural audiences throughout the country.
"Donation was once something people only talked about among their families; it was once a taboo topic," said Ivy. "Now people are more open to talking about organ donation and sharing medical/family histories to help those in need of lifesaving and life-enhancing transplants."
Organ, eye and tissue donation has not only touched Ivy's life in a professional capacity, but in a personal one, too. His daughter, Mechan Vincent-Davenport, is a cornea transplant recipient.
Thank you to Ivy for 20 years of dedication, contributions and commitment to LifeGift! Congratulations!
