About Gift of Hope

• Donation Coordinators

  Donation Coordinators are responsible for developing and maintaining effective relationships with key hospital staff in an assigned region. As part of a regional team, they work collaboratively with hospitals to manage educational and quality assurance programs on donation. They also provide on-site assessments and evaluations of potential organ donors, follow referrals and facilitate an effective consent process.

• Donation Specialists

  Donation Specialists serve a dual role of facilitating the organ and tissue donation process and serving as an expert resource within hospitals on all aspects of organ and tissue donation. As donation coordinators, they create an environment and provide information that allows potential organ donor families to make informed decisions about organ and tissue donation. As hospital development professionals, they collaborate with hospital administration to create and implement policies and procedures that facilitate the donation process.

• Family Support Services Coordinators

  Family Support Services Coordinators are specially trained to facilitate the consent process for donation, support the family throughout the donation process and provide information on grief and counseling. They create an environment that allows for each potential donor family to make an informed decision about donation.

• Hospital Development Coordinators

  Hospital Development Coordinators help to develop hospital environments that encourage and support the option for organ and tissue donation. They lay the groundwork for Gift of Hope by helping hospitals:

  • Comply with state and federal regulations
  • Establish donation policies
  • Plan organ and tissue donation educational programs for healthcare professionals
  • Analyze quantitative and qualitative donation data

  Their efforts to educate hospital staffs ensure that appropriate steps to maximize the donation opportunity are taken when a death is imminent and that all families of eligible donors receive the option to donate. In the case of donor referrals, they also work with key hospital staff members to coordinate the donation process and review procedures for possible improvements.

• Laboratory Services Professionals

  Our Laboratory Services team includes laboratory assistants, laboratory analysts, medical technologists and laboratory managers. Working in our state-of-the-art, full-service Histocompatibility Laboratory, they conduct in-house infectious disease serologies, tissue typing, antibody identification and final cross-matching vital to the donation process. Laboratory staff also provide the histocompatibility testing required for living donor kidney transplants and non-renal transplant candidates. Our Laboratory maintains one of the largest kidney transplant waiting lists in the country, providing monthly antibody screenings for patients awaiting kidney and kidney/pancreas transplants through the nine transplant and more than 100 dialysis centers in our service area.

• Organ and Tissue Recovery Coordinators

  Organ and Tissue Recovery Coordinators manage the complex donation process, from the referral of potential donors to the recovery and placement of donated organs and tissue. They are responsible for coordinating evaluation, informed consent, medical management, surgical recovery, allocation and distribution of organs and tissue for transplantation from donors in accordance with applicable policies, procedures and protocols.

• Professional Educators

  Professional Education staff members provide donation education for physicians, nurses, pastoral care counselors, funeral directors, coroners and many others who play key roles in referring potential donors and managing donor care. Our Professional Education team works closely with our Hospital Development and other departments to develop these donation education programs.

• Community Affairs

  Community Affairs staff members work to increase the African-American community’s knowledge of organ and tissue donation and motivate people to register as organ and tissue donors in the Illinois and Indiana donor registries. They do this by coordinating local coalitions of volunteers and multicultural task forces to provide presentations and organize donor registration drives in local communities. They also establish campaign partnerships with African-American businesses and associations to coordinate workplace donor education and registration.

• Donor Family Services

  Our Donor Family Services staff members provide ongoing information to families about the outcome of their loved ones’ donations and to recipients of organ and tissue donations. They also offer continuing support to donor families and recipients through remembrance ceremonies and community events and work to coordinate communication between families of donors and the recipients of their loved ones’ gifts.

• Donor Resource Center

  Team members in our Donor Resource Center (DRC) respond to all donor referral calls from the 180 hospitals in our service area—24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our DRC Referral Coordinators coordinate communication for donation cases among hospital personnel and the entire Gift of Hope team—administrators, Family Support Services Coordinators and Organ and Tissue Recovery Coordinators. Most Donor Resource Center Coordinators hold four-year or advanced degrees in health and social sciences such as nursing and social work, and many are experienced in allied health fields such as respiratory therapy and emergency medical services. In 2011, the Donor Resource Center handled more than 45,000 calls, including nearly 25,000 calls identifying patients for potential organ and tissue donation.

• Finance

  Our Finance team includes accountants, junior accountants, financial analysts and other financial professionals. They work together to manage our financial operations and ensure our financial strength, which enables us to carry out our lifesaving and life-enhancing mission.

• Human Resources

  Our Human Resources team includes recruiters and human resources specialists who are responsible for recruiting, training and retaining talented team members and administering the organizations benefits programs. They also produce team-building events designed to celebrate to good things we accomplish as an organization and to recognize people for their dedication and contributions to Gift of Hope.

• Information Systems

  Our Information Systems team includes network administrators, program analysts, program developers and data analysts. Together, they keep our electronic lifeline intact and provide vital data and information needed to help us carry out our mission.

• Public Relations

  Public Relations staff members works to increase the public’s knowledge of organ and tissue donation and motivate people to register as organ and tissue donors in the Illinois and Indiana donor registries. They do this by coordinating:

  • Local coalitions of volunteers to provide presentations and organize donor registration drives in local communities
  • Multicultural task forces at work in the African-American and Hispanic communities
  • Campaign partnerships with businesses and associations to coordinate workplace donor education and registration
  • Campaigns and outreach with student groups at colleges and universities
  • An award-winning high school education program, in partnership with allied organizations through Donate Life Illinois, to educate high school students

  Public Relations staff also plan and implement strategic communications and provide media outreach to local and national television, radio, print and online media on issues related to donation and transplantation. The team also provides ongoing print and electronic communications on organ and tissue donation and transplantation for hospital staff, funeral service professionals, coroners, medical examiners, volunteers and other external audiences.