Services

Donor Fam­i­ly Care

Organ and tis­sue donors are heroes and we believe their fam­i­lies should be treat­ed with the utmost care and respect at the time of dona­tion and in the months and years fol­low­ing their loved one’s death. Our Donor Fam­i­ly Advo­cates are a resource for our fam­i­lies. They com­pas­sion­ate­ly pro­vide grief resources and sup­port to our donor fam­i­lies, as well as facil­i­tate poten­tial com­mu­ni­ca­tion between donor fam­i­lies and trans­plant recip­i­ents. Each year we pro­vide an oppor­tu­ni­ty for donor fam­i­lies to gath­er togeth­er and remem­ber their loved ones and the pre­cious gifts of life they so gen­er­ous­ly gave to others.

For more infor­ma­tion and resources vis­it our Donor Fam­i­ly Care pages. 

Pub­lic Outreach 

Our Pub­lic Out­reach team con­nects with com­mu­ni­ties across the state through pub­lic edu­ca­tion, spe­cial events, and media rela­tions. We believe that every­one has the right to make an deci­sion about organ and tis­sue dona­tion and to doc­u­ment that deci­sion dur­ing their lifetime.

We work close­ly with the Iowa Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion to pro­vide infor­ma­tion to res­i­dents apply­ing for or renew­ing their driver’s license or state ID card. We also pro­vide mate­ri­als and infor­ma­tion about dona­tion to driver’s edu­ca­tion to ensure that stu­dents who are apply­ing for their very first driver’s license have the infor­ma­tion they need to make an dona­tion decision.

Our vol­un­teer pro­gram is made up of an incred­i­ble group of indi­vid­u­als who ded­i­cate their time and ener­gy to sup­port­ing Iowa Donor Net­work by advo­cat­ing for dona­tion. Our vol­un­teers are ded­i­cat­ed donor fam­i­ly mem­bers, liv­ing donors, trans­plant recip­i­ents, recip­i­ent fam­i­ly mem­bers and enthu­si­as­tic com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers whose work and pow­er­ful sto­ries impact the hearts and minds of their neigh­bors. Many of our vol­un­teers staff booths at health fairs, give pre­sen­ta­tions to stu­dents and civic groups and help at spe­cial events to raise aware­ness about organ, tis­sue and eye dona­tion. They are the cor­ner­stone of our pub­lic out­reach efforts.

In addi­tion to our ongo­ing out­reach, we host sig­na­ture events that pro­vide a unique plat­form for engag­ing with our cher­ished donor fam­i­lies and the broad­er com­mu­ni­ty. These spe­cial occa­sions inspire indi­vid­u­als to reg­is­ter as organ and tis­sue donors on their licens­es. Fur­ther­more, they present an oppor­tu­ni­ty for atten­dees to sup­port our mis­sion mon­e­tar­i­ly, ensur­ing that we can con­tin­ue to spread aware­ness and make a tan­gi­ble difference.

For more infor­ma­tion about our vol­un­teer pro­gram or to get involved, vis­it Vol­un­teer Pro­gram

Pro­fes­sion­al Outreach

We proud­ly part­ner with more than 120 hos­pi­tals and hun­dreds of EMS, ME, hos­pice, and long-term care facil­i­ties to max­i­mize the num­ber of lives saved through organ and tis­sue dona­tion. Col­lab­o­ra­tion with our part­ners is crit­i­cal in order to sup­port fam­i­lies through end-of-life care and hon­or the dona­tion deci­sions of peo­ple in our communities.

Our team’s mis­sion is to main­tain suc­cess­ful dona­tion pro­grams at each orga­ni­za­tion or agency by pro­mot­ing best prac­tices, pro­vid­ing high-lev­el cus­tomer ser­vice, offer­ing pro­fes­sion­al edu­ca­tion, and meet­ing indi­vid­ual needs. Admin­is­tra­tors, physi­cians, nurs­es, social work­ers, chap­lains along with EMS, Law Enforce­ment, Med­ical Exam­in­ers and oth­er non-hos­pi­tal med­ical pro­fes­sion­als all have cru­cial roles in the dona­tion process and we are incred­i­bly grate­ful for their partnership.

For more infor­ma­tion and resources vis­it our Pro­fes­sion­al Part­ners pages. 

Organ Pro­cure­ment 

Organ trans­plan­ta­tion is a suc­cess­ful treat­ment for end-stage organ fail­ure. This treat­ment is not pos­si­ble with­out the gen­eros­i­ty of organ donors and their fam­i­lies. IDN bal­ances cut­ting edge med­i­cine with care and sup­port for donors and their fam­i­lies.

Our team works closely with donor hospital and transplant center per­son­nel and donor families to facilitate the gift of life. Dona­tion begins when a donor hos­pi­tal noti­fies Iowa Donor Net­work that one of their patients is at or near death. Our team mem­bers work with the hospital per­son­nel to assess patients who are at the end-of-life to see if they have the precious opportunity to give the gift of life. Less than 2% of people have this incredible opportunity to donate organs upon their death, while many more are able to donate tis­sues.

If a patient has the option to be an organ donor, one of our team mem­bers travel to the hospital to meet with the family and discuss their loved one’s ability to save lives. If the patient made a decision about donation during their lifetime, we support their family as we honor their loved donor’s decision. If the patient hadn’t, we ask their family to make a decision about donation on their behalf. Once organ recov­ery is autho­rized, our team works with the hospital staff to coor­di­nate recov­ery.  

Tis­sue Recovery

Tissue donation is a gift that enhances and saves approximately 2.5 million lives each year. From skin donation that prevents infection and saves the lives of burn victims to the donation of bone to restore mobility and prevent amputation, the gift of tissue is life-chang­ing.

As a tissue recovery organization, we manage all aspects of the tissue donation and recovery process. It begins with a call from one of our health­care part­ners, where our team assesses the patient to see if they have the precious opportunity to give the gift of tis­sue.

If a patient has the option to be a tissue donor, our team will speak with the family and discuss their loved one’s ability to save and heal lives. If the patient made a decision about donation during their lifetime, we support their family as we honor their decision. If they haven’t, we ask their family to make a decision about donation on their behalf.

Our highly trained tissue team performs the recovery and sends the donor’s tissue to one of our tissue processing partners, who carefully prepare it for transplantation. Our tissue partners include Iowa Lion’s Eye Bank, AlloSource, Artiv­ion, LifeNet , LifeCell, LeMaitre and Ossi­um.