By EILEEN LEVALLEY, Solutions News Bureau
Gift of Life Michigan Tissue and Organ Donation, had to switch gears after the surge of COVID-19. The process for organ and tissue donation needed to be altered to protect the community and staff.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Gift of Life Michigan didn’t accept organs for donation if the patient was positive for COVID-19. That changed after the Cleveland Clinic started transplanting COVID-positive organs such as kidney and liver.
“Since then, we have had just as many COVID-positive donors, as non-COVID donors,” says Karen Bender, a nurse and coordinator for Gift of Life.
There was a short time, as well, when the organization completely halted donations. Bender says there were just too many unknowns, and patients who receive transplants must take immunosuppressive medication.
“And that was scary to do when COVID-19 was still too new to understand.”
Gift of Life still had some organ donors, but not as many cases.
“We were averaging about 20 to 30 cases a month pre-pandemic, then down to about 15 to 20 per month.”
Some of that was also because the hospitals did not have inventory for “elective” surgery, but now they have forty plus donors a month.
Bender says that new rules and procedures for staff to follow could be challenging. The Federal Government mandates that the organ procurement organization has to be allowed into the hospital to evaluate potential donors, and some hospital partners mandated those employees of Gift of Life Michigan had to have their vaccinations.
“I had to submit my vaccination card to any hospital that asked for it,” Bender says.
According to Bender, nurses have to be screened when they enter any hospital. They’re also required to supply their own masks and personal protection equipment as needed for COVID units.
During the beginning of the pandemic, hospitals asked staff at Gift of Life Michigan to limit onsite visits. To follow this rule, staff used Electronic Medical Records to access Michigan hospitals. Bender says she worked at home as much as she could, using this system.
But when evaluating new referrals for donation potential, she is required to be on site.
“I go into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and huddle with the registered nurse and doctor and gain a picture of the current situation. I then go into the patient’s chart (EMR) and look closely for medical conditions that can rule the patient out for donation,” Bender says.
She also conducts donation education in hospitals.
“The evaluation of potential donors is the same – once we started going back into hospitals – but the education part is different. We can not have “lunch and learns” because they do not want us doing any large gatherings. Education is also difficult, because there are a lot of travel nurses from other states, or nurses floating into the Intensive Care Units, that never worked in an ICU unit before and do not know the Gift of Life Michigan and OPO protocols.”
These issues are being addressed with continuous training for medical staff, hospitals, and Gift of Life employees. Many meetings are conducted on ZOOM, to keep employee in-person groups to a minimum.
Dorrie Dils, CEO of Gift of Life, says her team came up with some creative ways to interact with the public, due to COVID-19. One was to communicate with the public through social media, where they created a Facebook Live event called, “Lets Talk Tuesdays.” There are over 2800 people in Michigan on the organ donation list, and this event included information necessary for the public to learn about donations, and help with possible shortages.
Gift of Life Michigan closely monitors and follows the precautions set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Michigan’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, along with other guidance and education to help keep families and staff safe. CDC guidelines include wearing a mask, hand washing, avoiding large gatherings, and getting vaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) maintains a data tracker for COVID-19, for the public to utilize for continued education, and related information.