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Funeral Homes, Tissue Banks
Can Help Families Together
by Ann Blair
Funeral home tissue donation programs offer a classic win-win situation. Many times, a grieving family finds comfort in knowing that dozens of people may be helped by their generous donation. And funeral homes participating in the program get the feeling of satisfaction that comes from supporting the community by providing much-needed transplantable tissue.
Miller-Jones Mortuary in Southern California began a tissue donation referral program last spring. Each of the families we serve is offered the option of helping others through such a donation. In November 2000, I spent a week at the main office of the University of Florida Tissue Bank to learn how to set up a donation referral program with Southeast Tissue Alliance. During this time, I met most of the staff and was given an orientation by each department. I spent one day with the people who specialize in contacting families to make them aware of their options and also work with the hospitals and funeral homes whose staffs make referrals.
At this time, only hospitals are required by the federal government to report all deaths to a tissue bank. Since only 40 percent of deaths occur in a hospital, in 60 percent of all deaths there is no requirement that the family be informed of the donation option. This is one reason the need for transplantable tissue has been increasing at a much faster rate than the availability of donated tissue.
Funeral homes are in an excellent position to help close this gap by informing all families of the donation option. At Miller-Jones, we feel this is a great service we can offer both our families and our communities.
Most people associate donation with life-saving heart, kidney or other organ transplants, but donated tissues are used in far-ranging ways to improve the donors' quality of life. For example, bone is used to correct birth defects, perform facial reconstruction and salvage damaged limbs, preventing amputations. Skin is used in the treatment of burn patients, veins in coronary bypass surgery and tendons in the repair of joint injuries.
During my stay in Florida, I also got a tour and orientation of the facility where many of the tissues are sent for testing and processing. At this facility, research and development have led to many new uses of donated tissues for such things as bone pins, dowels and paste used in orthopedic surgeries. I was able to see all the amazing technological applications that help so many people and gained a real appreciation for the role tissue banks play in medical advancements. My trip instilled in me a great desire to help by developing our mortuaries' program.
How The Program Works
When a family comes to us for care, we contact the tissue bank with any information that might be useful in determining whether the deceased is a suitable donor. Tissue recovery must take place within 24 hours of death, so if it has been longer than that when a family comes to us, there is no point in the tissue bank contacting that family. There are also some diseases that rule out tissue donation. The majority of families we serve qualify for donation.
The Southeast Tissue Alliance contacts the families and makes them aware of their option to donate. If they decide to do so, the tissue bank asks them a series of questions similar to the ones asked of persons who want to donate blood. This information is handed over to a team of recovery specialists who come to Miller-Jones' facility to perform the sterile procedure of removing the tissues the family has chosen to donate.
The tissues are sent to the facility in Florida for further testing before being processed for use in transplantable products distributed to doctors and hospitals.
All costs associated with the procedure are borne by the tissue bank. There is never any charge to the donor families.
A family's donation does not negate an open casket viewing. The tissue recovery is adjusted to lessen the impact on viewed areas of the body, such as the arms. The embalming does become more of a challenge, but the tissue bank supplies us with products to make reconstruction easier.
There have been approximately 50 donors since we started the program in March. The Miller-Jones organization plans to create a special memorial program for families who have made the gift of tissue donation.
The tissue bank recently began implementing a follow-up program which we hope will give us some feedback from donor families. In speaking with local groups about the program, the reaction I have gotten has been very positive.
We encourage all funeral homes to participate in a program like this to offer a priceless service to their families and the many people who will be helped through tissue donations. The funeral profession as a whole has a tremendous opportunity to really make a difference.
Ann Blair, a 1996 graduate of Cypress College Mortuary Science Program, is an associate with Miller-Jones Mortuaries in Southern California. She can be reached at ann@miller-jones.com.
For more information about funeral homes and tissue donation programs, call 1-877-733-3700 or visit the Web sites of Southeast Tissue Alliance, www.donorcare.org, or US Allograft Network Inc., www.usallograftnetwork.org.
Copyright ICFA 2001
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