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First Quarter 2014

A Newsletter for Gift of Hope’s Partners and Friends

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RECORD BOOK In His First Year as CEO, Kevin Cmunt Guided Gift of Hope to New Heights in Saving and Enhancing Lives

IN THIS ISSUE Interfaith Council Gift of Hope’s Record Year National Donate Life Month Expanded Tissue Reach

President/CEO J. Kevin Cmunt

IN THIS ISSUE

Director of Communications and Legislative Affairs David Bosch 630/758-2726 dbosch@giftofhope.org

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Interfaith Council

Expanded Tissue Reach

Gift of Hope has formed an Interfaith Council to help spread the sacred and lifesaving message about the importance of organ and tissue donation to religious communities.

The acquisition of Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation will expand the organization’s tissue recovery reach and bring more life-enhancing tissue to people in need.

Writer/Editor Tony Sullivan 630/758-2721 tsullivan@giftofhope.org Contributors Raiza Mendoza 630/758-2744 rmendoza@giftofhope.org Josh Muller 630/758-2743 jmuller@giftofhope.org Heidi Schaiberger 630/758-2740 hschaiberger@giftofhope.org

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National Donate Life Month

One for the Record Book

Gift of Hope, hospitals and other donation advocates in Illinois and northwest Indiana will unite in April to promote organ and tissue donation and donor registration.

In his first year as Gift of Hope’s chief executive, Kevin Cmunt guided the organization to its best performance in its 27-year history.

Diane Schmitz 630/758-2741 dschmitz@giftofhope.org

Cover Photo: Kevin Cmunt guided Gift of Hope to its best year ever in 2013. In our cover story, Cmunt talks about that performance and what’s ahead for the organization in 2014 and beyond.

A Donate Life Organization Connections provides the Gift of Hope public and professional communities with news and information about Gift of Hope, organ and tissue donation and the importance of being a registered organ and tissue donor. We encourage you to share this newsletter with your friends and associates and learn more about donation by visiting GiftofHope.org.

Copyright © 2014.

All Rights Reserved.

Gift of Hope Representatives

Light Up the World at 2014 Rose Parade A transplant recipient from northwest Indiana and a donor family from central Illinois helped to “light up the world” as Gift of Hope’s representatives on the 2014 Donate Life Rose Parade Float, one of 45 floats featured in the 125th edition of the Rose Parade held on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif.

Schererville, Ind., resident Linda Ramos, who received a pancreas transplant in 2003, was one of 30 float riders, all of whom were transplant recipients. Ramos’ transplant ended her struggle with diabetes, which she had battled since she was 16. She is a long-time Advocates for Hope volunteer for Gift of Hope and frequently shares her donation story in the community.

Donor parents Robyn and Mike Deterding of White Heath, Ill., attended the Donate Life Rose Parade festivities as Gift of Hope’s floragraph family. A floragraph of their son, Teddy — one of 81 adorning the float — honored and recognized him for the gifts of life he offered as a donor in 2000. Floragraphs — floral images captured in flowers, seeds and spices — represent the millions of people touched by organ and tissue donation, including donor families, living and deceased donors, transplant recipients and people currently waiting for transplants. They are incorporated into the Donate Life float each year and honor deceased donors whose legacies lift the hopes of those in need of transplants.

Light Up the World was the theme of the 2014 float. It featured a festival of beautiful lanterns designed to inspire viewers worldwide to save and heal lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.

Connections - Light Up the World

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Interfaith Council to Guide Religious Outreach Efforts As members of Gift of Hope’s newly formed Interfaith Council, a group of 11 religious leaders representing a range of religions — Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Muslim and Buddhism among them — will help Gift of Hope staff better understand the subtle nuances of the many religions espoused by people the organization encounters during donation education events and, more importantly, during the donation process. The Council was created to partner with Gift of Hope in spreading the sacred and lifesaving message about the importance of organ and tissue donation and help guide the organization’s efforts to dispel people’s mistaken beliefs that their religions prohibit them from being donors.

“Gift of Hope serves a diverse community where religion and spirituality play an integral part in many families’ decisions about organ and tissue donation,” said Susan Cochran, a Gift of Hope Donation Specialist who is serving as chairperson of the Council. “We are looking forward to learning from members of the Interfaith Council how we can be more sensitive to the needs of faith communities in our service area. Donation is a sacred journey, and it is wonderful to have the guidance of this diverse and prestigious group of religious leaders.”

The Interfaith Council is part of Gift of Hope President/CEO Kevin Cmunt’s vision to make Gift of Hope a valued part of the community and to save more lives by getting more people to say “yes” to donation. Two experiences in 2013 signaled the need for an Interfaith Council in Cmunt’s mind.

The first was seeing the impact a religious reading by an Islamic Imam had on Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White at last August’s National Minority Donor Awareness Week kickoff press conference in Chicago. “Here’s a man who has seen and heard many things during his decades of service to the State of Illinois,” Cmunt said. “But he was clearly moved, as was I, by the Imam’s commitment to organ and tissue donation.”

The second was more personal. “We worked with more than 300 donor families last year, and they were all impactful, but one case in particular hit me really hard. This young man’s organs went to five people, of all different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, of all ages, from all across the country. This sent an indisputable message that donation

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Connections - Interfaith Council Formed

Imam Matthew Ramadan and Rabbi Michael Zedek will offer the perspectives of Islam and Judaism on Gift of Hope’s Interfaith Council.

transcends everything, including religion, and that we need to strengthen our partnership with the religious community to convey the message that religious belief should not be a personal obstacle to offering the gift of life to others through donation.

These leaders who have made a commitment to champion that cause by serving on our Council can inspire their religious communities and, ultimately, impact the community at large.”

At its first meeting in February, the Council identified seven community beliefs and issues it will focus on to dismantle religious objections to donation: • Families are unsure whether their religions support donation.

• Tradition and culture can muddle religious beliefs.

• People fear that organs will be sold or loved ones won’t get the best treatment if they are registered donors.

• Hospital staff are unclear about different religions’ views on donation.

• Direct translation of donation information may not convey the desired messages to all religions.

• What death is and what it means varies among religions.

• Families are unsure of the impact of donation on the body.

The Council will begin by educating Gift of Hope staff about where different religions and cultures stand on these issues.

That will occur in workshops to be held in the coming months.

Other plans include the development of an informational brochure and expanded website content that chronicles religious and cultural views on donation, as well as educational training conducted for hospital clinical and chaplaincy staff to deepen their knowledge on religious views on donation and enhance their interactions with donor families. Council members also offered to make themselves available to talk with families in the midst of donation on a case-by-case basis.

Members of Gift of Hope’s Interfaith Council

Karen Danielson Steve Dimmitt Rev. Christy Howard-Steele, BCC

Rev. Domingo Hurtado-Badillo Shiva Singh Khalsa Rabbi Victor Mirelman Pastor Scott Onque Imam Matthew Ramadan Pastor Freddy Santiago Bhante Sila Rabbi Michael Zedek

Muslim American Society, Director PACE & Outreach Chicago Community of Christ Member Staff Chaplain, Mission & Spiritual Care, Advocate Christ Medical Center and Advocate Children’s Hospital, Oak Lawn, Ill. Coordinator Chaplain, Alexian Brothers Medical Center, Elk Grove Village, Ill. President/CEO, Spirit Rising Foundation, Chicago Rabbi Emeritus, West Suburban Temple Har Zion, River Forest, Ill. St. Luke’s Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago Deputy Executive Director, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago Iglesia Rebaño Church, Chicago Buddhist Monk, Chaplain at Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville, Ill. Senior Rabbi, Emanuel Congregation, Chicago

The Impact of Donation: Gift of Hope’s Record Year Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network provided 919 lifesaving organs for transplant in 2013 through the generous decisions of 323 donors and their families. In addition, 1,487 donors and their families authorized the donation of bone, skin, heart valves and other tissue for transplant during the year.

“These achievements underscore the remarkable dedication of Gift of Hope and its healthcare partners to honor the decision to donate and bring lifesaving organs and tissue to people in need,” said Kevin Cmunt, Gift of Hope President/CEO. “In 2013, we helped more people than ever before in our 27-year history, and we made a huge difference in the lives of many people. But none of this would have been possible without the selfless decisions made by individuals and family members to offer the gift of life to others through donation.”

Although hundreds of lives were saved as a result of Gift of Hope’s record-setting performance in 2013, the shortage of donated organs remains critical.

More than 5,300 Illinoisans and 1,500 people in Indiana currently are waiting for transplants, and the gap between the number of people waiting and available organs continues to widen.

“That’s why registering to be a donor is so important and why we work so hard to educate the public about donation,” Cmunt said. “About 5.5 million people have registered as donors in Illinois, and 3.2 million have registered in Indiana.

In Illinois, that’s just 56 percent of all people eligible to register in the state.

So we still have a long way to go to get those remaining 4 million Illinois residents to make the decision to save lives through donation.”

The selfless decision to be an organ and tissue donor goes a long way. A single organ donor can save up to nine lives and, when combined with tissue donation, a single donor can save or improve the lives of more than 25 people.

Although 2013 was a great year, Gift of Hope will not rest on its laurels in 2014, Cmunt said. “We’ve raised the bar to a new height for the organization, but we expect to raise it even higher in 2014 by strengthening our relationships with hospitals and transplant centers, enhancing the way we provide medical management to potential donors, increasing Gift of Hope’s presence in our Illinois and northwest Indiana service area, and learning more about why people choose not to register and what we can do to change their minds.”

Gift of Hope will achieve these goals by continuing successful public awareness and donor registration campaigns conducted in hospitals, on college campuses and at community events held throughout its service area in 2014.

Expanding Gift of Hope’s Advocates for Hope volunteer corps and enhancing volunteers’ knowledge about organ and tissue donation while increasing the activities they initiate and take part in also are expected to contribute to a strong performance in 2014.

One area Gift of Hope will explore is the wide variation that exists in donor registration rates throughout its service area. Registration rates range from a high of 73 percent of the eligible (18 and over) population in McHenry County in northern Illinois to a low of 36 percent of the population in Brown County in west-central Illinois.

“We want to figure out why registration rates differ and look for ways to boost rates in lagging counties,” said David Bosch, Director of Communications and Legislative Affairs for Gift of Hope.

“Whether it’s messaging, religious objections, ethnic or cultural beliefs, apathy or general misperceptions, we want to learn what the obstacles to making the donation decision are and try to break them down in order to bring more lifesaving organs and tissue to people in need.”

Faces of Donation 2013 Giving: Ashley Swart, a young woman with big dreams, offered the gift of life as an organ and tissue donor in September. The 20-year-old from Crown Point, Ind., was full of life. That spirit now lives on in others thanks to her decision to be a donor. She saved four lives through her organ gifts and improved the lives of at least two others with her tissue gifts.

Receiving: Diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2005, 33-yearold Kelvin Martin waited nine years for a lifesaving heart transplant. He survived three heart attacks during that period and recently received the gift of life from a selfless donor. A strong donation advocate even before his health issues arose, Martin now is more motivated than ever to spread the word about being a registered donor.

Waiting: As a heart transplant recipient, the Rev. Marcus Burnett knows the benefits of donation. But he also knows the risks: Anti-rejection medications have caused his kidneys to deteriorate. He now needs a kidney transplant and hopes the gift of life comes his way so he can remain an integral part of his family’s life and continue to serve his church as a Baptist minister.

Connections - Record Year for Donations

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Gift of Hope Expands Tissue Recovery Reach Gift of Hope recently acquired the Illinois tissue recovery operations of Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, a move that is expected to significantly increase the volume of bone, skin and other tissue made available to people in Gift of Hope’s Illinois and northwest Indiana service area. The acquisition adds 27 more hospitals to Gift of Hope’s tissue recovery network and opens the door to creating new relationships with 14 coroners who previously referred tissue recovery cases to MTF. “I know from my background as a tissue organization executive that tissue has many productive and beneficial uses,” said Kevin Cmunt, President/CEO of Gift of Hope. “With the acquisition of MTF, we now have an opportunity to do even more for people who can benefit from tissue transplants. I believe that any donation begets more donation, so I’m confident that adding more hospitals to our recovery network will not only make more tissue available for transplantation, but will inspire more people to become registered donors. “

Bone grafts are among the many life-enhancing transplants that people offer as tissue donors. They are used to restore joints and reconstruct damaged bones to help people lead healthy, productive lives.

To handle the increased demands resulting from this service expansion, Gift of Hope has established a new office in Peoria and has added more than a dozen tissue staff members who previously worked for MTF. “With this expansion, we are now the only tissue recovery organization in our service area,” Cmunt said. “This move will help us bring more healing and life-enhancing tissue to people in need and adds a group of highly skilled individuals with considerable tissue recovery experience and strong dedication to donation in Illinois to our already-superior tissue staff.”

New Lab Test May Help to Reduce Procurement Costs, Boost Safety Gift of Hope researchers have developed a new pre-screening test to enable early identification of donors with certain health issues that rule them out as donation candidates. Preliminary findings indicate the procedure may help organ procurement organizations like Gift of Hope reduce costs associated with organ and tissue recovery and increase staff safety.

Gift of Hope spends an estimated $1 million a year on managing potential donors who eventually are ruled out as donors due to the presence of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus or human immunodeficiency virus. Historically, the laboratory discovers the presence of these viruses only after significant staff time and resources have been spent. Moreover, donation staff members are at risk for exposure to these viruses until laboratory testing discloses their presence.

The new pre-screening test will be done at the start of the donor management process to identify rule-outs right away, thereby, reducing costs and staff exposure to dangerous

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Connections - Donation News

viruses. “Identifying the infectious status of these donors earlier can help OPOs save considerable dollars that can be better used elsewhere to enhance recovery and placement efforts and help more people in need of lifesaving organ transplants and life-enhancing tissue transplants,” said Andrés Jaramillo, Director of Gift of Hope’s Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics Laboratory.

Gift of Hope currently is conducting a validation study on the efficacy of the pre-screening test as an initial step to full implementation. The goal will be to make the test a routine part of Gift of Hope’s donor management protocols and, eventually, share it with the national OPO community to help them realize the same cost-savings and safety benefits.

NDLM 2014 on the Horizon Gift of Hope will once again call upon residents of Illinois and northwest Indiana to observe and celebrate National Donate Life Month this April by registering as organ and tissue donors, sharing their decision and encouraging others to follow in their footsteps.

National Donate Life Month, observed throughout April, is a time set aside each year for hospitals, schools, businesses and communities to educate the public about organ and tissue donation and encourage people to register as donors. “During this special time, Gift of Hope and our Donate Life Illinois partners work to dial up their donation advocacy activities,” said Kevin Cmunt, President/CEO of Gift of Hope. “We also take this time to recognize our donors, their families, transplant recipients and the healthcare professionals who help provide the gift of life through donation and transplantation.”

During the month, Gift of Hope will work with Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office manages the Illinois Organ/ Tissue Donor Registry, to host press events and donor registration drives throughout Illinois. Television and radio ads featuring Illinoisans waiting for lifesaving transplants also will air in cities and towns across the state.

Gift of Hope and its Donate Life Illinois partners will do their part during the month by collaborating with hospitals, workplaces and community organizations throughout Illinois

and northwest Indiana to help raise public awareness of donation and encourage people to register as donors.

“We are on a mission during this special month in the donation calendar,” Cmunt said. “Through donor registration stations, signage and donation stories channeled through the mass media, social media, hospital community newsletters and hospital and workplace websites and intranets, we will seek to educate our community about the importance of organ and tissue donation and encourage people to register as organ and tissue donors.”

Mission Smile Brings Holiday Joy to Children Gift of Hope once again partnered with Chicago’s GrinLight Theater Company and Addison, Ill.-based Angel Quinceañeras Dance Academy during the recent holiday season to conduct Mission Smile, a toy drive to bring a bit of comfort and joy to children awaiting organ transplants in hospitals and to community organizations that serve underprivileged children. The two organizations joined with seven other organizations new to the Mission Smile campaign in partnering with Gift of Hope to collect more than 600 children’s gifts at toy drives conducted by the supporting organizations. Toys were given to children at the University of Illinois Hospital Pediatric Transplant Center, Children’s Hospital University of Illinois, DaVita Dialysis Center and El Hogar del Niño.

“Mission Smile had a very successful second year, proving that the spirit of offering hope and generosity to others is ingrained in the hearts of the Latino community,” said Raiza Mendoza, Manager of

Representatives from Gift of Hope, GrinLight Theater Company, Angel Quinceañeras Dance Academy and other organizations gave more than 600 toys to children during Mission Smile, an annual campaign to bring joy to children during the holiday season.

Hispanic Affairs for Gift of Hope. “As long as there are children in need of hope, we will continue to grow Mission Smile to take it to more communities in need and help Gift of Hope continue to raise public awareness of donation, build trust and be a vital part of everything good in the Latino community.”

Connections - Donation News

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RECORD BOOK CEO Kevin Cmunt Guides Gift of Hope to Its Best Year Ever and Charts a New Course for the Future

Exploding concrete columns. That’s what attracted Gift of Hope President/CEO Kevin Cmunt to engineering. While visiting the various engineering discipline presentations at a University of Illinois College of Engineering open house for prospective students, Cmunt was drawn to a new research tool the Civil Engineering Program had just acquired — a device to test the strength of concrete columns.

“If you know anything about concrete, when it reaches ultimate failure, it kind of explodes,” Cmunt explained.

“I was there when they were exploding these large columns of concrete, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

That’s when I decided to become a civil engineer. It was probably not the most well-thought-out plan, but it worked out.”

Three careers later, Cmunt recently completed his first year as chief executive of Gift of Hope. He may not be an engineer anymore, but the “columns” theme still guides his thinking. Today, though, he’s not exploding them. He’s building them. And he doesn’t call them “columns” anymore. Now they’re pillars. Pillars of organizational success, to be exact. They are the strategic support structures he is building to achieve the short- and long-term goals Gift of Hope is developing to realize his vision for the organization.

The pillars Cmunt began building in 2013 helped Gift of Hope realize its best year ever — record organ donors and record tissue donors. Cmunt sat down with Connections to talk about his first year and what’s ahead for Gift of Hope in 2014 and beyond. Here’s a recap of that discussion, edited for publication:

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Connections: How does an engineer end up as the President/CEO of an organ procurement organization?

Connections: What have you carried over from the tissue side to improve Gift of Hope’s organ recovery and placement operations?

KC: You can blame my former boss at AlloSource, Tom Cycycota, for that. Tom and I grew up together in Bellwood (Illinois), went to high school together and were college roommates at the University of Illinois. After graduation, he went off on a career in healthcare, and I started my career in civil engineering. We reunited about 20 years later when he was working at AlloSource, Gift of Hope’s tissue partner. He was looking for somebody to help him run the business side of the company, so I agreed to take that on.

KC: Something I share with our medical director (Martin Jendrisak, MD) is a love for science and research. When I was at AlloSource, we did a lot of really innovative things, and my love of science and research contributed to that. So when Dr. Jendrisak told me about some of the research he was doing and his ideas on how to improve patient and donor manage-

My plan was to work at Allosource for two years, help my friend and move on. But, after two years, instead of moving on, I got bit by the donation bug. That turned into a 12-year run at AlloSource that was very rewarding and a lot of fun because I got to meet and work with a lot of smart people. And we came up with a lot of innovative ways to use tissue and maximize the gift of donation.

That became a theme for me in my years at AlloSource — maximizing the gift. And it continues to guide most of my thinking here at Gift of Hope — maximizing the organ and tissue gifts offered by donors and donor family members.

Connections: How are you applying your engineering training and previous work experiences to guide Gift of Hope?

“Gift of Hope didn’t need a revolution; it needed an evolution.” ment, I could immediately see the value in them and support what he wanted to do. That led to my decision to formalize our research and development activities and form a Research Institute to operate under his expert eyes. The R&D we will conduct under the auspices of the Research Institute will help us discover new ways to maximize the gifts of donation and help to save and improve people’s lives. And we intend to share what we learn with other OPOs (organ procurement organizations) so that even more people can benefit from the advancements we make.

KC: I think all of my three previous careers — as an engineer, a business development executive and executive vice president of AlloSource — have given me special insights and experiences that I’m using in my job here. They all taught me that, regardless of the business you’re in, it’s all about people. They also taught me that I really enjoy smart people who work hard. And that’s what I’ve found during my first year here: a lot of very, very smart people who work very, very hard because they’re very, very passionate about what they do.

Connections: How is your strong tissue background benefitting Gift of Hope and its mission?

KC: Our tissue and organ operations share some critical components. Obviously, the most important is carrying out the wishes and meeting the needs of our donors and donor families. But they also have some pretty significant differences, so we actually have two unique operations here at Gift of Hope. I understand tissue very well, so I can add some value to the tissue side of our operations without spending a whole lot of time on it. Plus, we have a great tissue team already in place. That has allowed me to focus almost entirely on our organ operations as I learn about that side of what we do and look at how we can do it better.

Gift of Hope’s nationally recognized Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics Laboratory will work to enhance donor management protocols and contribute other recovery and placement advancements under the auspices of the organization’s Research Institute.

Connections: What’s been your biggest challenge since joining Gift of Hope?

KC: My biggest challenge has been learning the nuances of organ donation and transplantation. You quickly realize that the process involves so many moving parts and a thousand

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things can go wrong, and you feel like it’s a miracle when we’re able to recover and place organs successfully. So I’ve been focusing on learning the organ side of our operations and on making sure our clinical team is staffed the right way and has the tools it needs so that we can maximize our success.

Connections: A lot of good things happened at Gift of Hope last year. What are you most proud of?

KC: The number one thing is our staff’s willingness to accept change and enhance what we do to honor the donation decision and make donation and transplantation happen. When you bring in a new CEO, there’s often a lot of trepidation about what’s going to happen. I would bet that nine times out of 10, there’s a dip in performance when a new CEO comes in, especially when changes begin.

We made a lot of changes last year. We moved departments around, we changed schedules and we brought in a lot of new people to get the work done. But we didn’t have a dip in performance — we had great success. To me, this was an extremely gratifying and fun part of my job — watching the organization as a whole and the people who work here embrace the energy and the idea that we can do more to help people.

Connections: You’ve established three general organizational goals for Gift of Hope. Why those three?

KC: The goals you’re referring to are enhancing our culture, strengthening our external relationships and meeting or exceeding our targets for organ donors, tissue donors and organs transplanted in order to make us one of the nation’s top-performing OPOs. These are the culmination of thoughts and ideas I assembled when I was interviewing for this position. In doing my homework on Gift of Hope, I realized that the organization didn’t need a revolution; it needed an evolution.

So I wrote a very short vision statement, and it had three main points: I wanted to build a can-do culture at Gift of Hope, I wanted to position Gift of Hope as a valued partner among our external stakeholders and I wanted to make Gift of Hope one of the top OPOs in the country. During our recently completed strategic planning process, we translated those three points into some specific, measurable goals that we believe will enable us to help the most people we can — the most donors, the most donor families and the most recipients.

Connections: You often say that Gift of Hope is “all about donor families.” What do you mean by that?

KC: Among the most interesting and rewarding experiences I’ve had since coming here is getting to meet, talk with and

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learn from donor families about the impact we have on them.

At AlloSource, we didn’t have much exposure to donor families.

We left organ and tissue donation and recovery to the OPOs. Our involvement started with honoring the gift once it was recovered. The interaction with the family was one step removed from us, so that has been a great learning experience for me in my first year.

What I’ve learned is that our donors all tend to be tragic, unexpected losses. That’s the nature of deceased donation.

We deal with people who have been involved in accidents or victims of gunshot wounds and other sudden events that donor families had no time to prepare for. So we operate in this incredible 24- to 48-hour crucible where people have lost their loved ones. And they will never forget what happens during that timeframe. That presents us with this tremendous opportunity, not only to help recipients waiting for organs and tissue, but to help donor families make something positive come out of a negative situation.

We have just one chance to do that. We don’t get a re-do.

So it’s incumbent upon us to do everything we can to provide some greater good out of the terrible losses our donor families experience.

I also often say that I have the best job in the world. That’s because we not only get to help people heal and live through transplantation, but get to create some good from a tragic loss for our donor families. It’s the donor family that makes our jobs unique. What I’ve experienced with donor families has really moved me. When we make donation happen, we impact these families in a profound and permanent way.

Connections: What does Gift of Hope look like in five years?

KC: Late last year, we completed a strategic planning process to help us create a roadmap for our future. We came up with 185 action items as a result of the process. Obviously, that’s more that we can possibly accomplish in a reasonable timeframe, but the process revealed many things we can do to improve Gift of Hope and help us to better carry out our mission.

In five years, I would like Gift of Hope to be recognized as one of the top two or three OPOs in the country. That means that, not only are our donation numbers something that people point to, but the impact we are having on the community we serve is greater than what everybody else is doing. We will accomplish this by using the tremendous resources we have at Gift of Hope.

For example, we have one of the best OPO medical directors in Dr. Jendrisak and one of the best laboratory directors in Andrés Jaramillo, who operates one of the top OPO laboratories in the

“Donation transcends all of the things that divide us — race, religion, economic status and geography.”

— Kevin Cmunt, President/CEO, Gift of Hope

country. That means we have the ability to do research that transcends what we do as a single organization. What we do here in our Research Institute in partnership with universities and private industry will be applicable to all other OPOs in the country.

plant more organs, or finding new ways to manage waiting lists so that we can find the right recipients and place more organs. We want to be an active participant in making transplantation happen, and we want to help make Chicago and Illinois one of the top transplant centers in the country.

Our Learning Institute is another idea — albeit not a unique idea. We have the people in Philadelphia (Gift of Life) to thank for sharing their knowledge on this with us. The point is that we have so many people with such valuable knowledge that can benefit our partners as we work to make donation happen. Things like how to handle difficult family situations, manage donors better, the latest tissue recovery techniques and understanding cultural differences are all topics we want to share with the donation community — hospital staff members, pathologists, coroners, medical examiners and other stakeholders who can benefit from the knowledge that we can provide. That’s the Learning Institute.

A second key message is for hospitals: We want to partner with you in a better way. We have a lot to offer, and we want to be recognized as someone who gives back. We want to be seen as the expert who can come in and work with you on donation cases to produce successful outcomes. Hospitals do a tremendous job in providing medical and clinical care for patients. But we are experts in working with donors. Working together, we can apply our talents to ensure that every opportunity for donation is successful.

Connections: Of the many messages you’d like to convey to our communities, what three messages do you want them to hear and embrace the most?

KC: One key message is that we want to be a stronger partner with transplant centers in solving the problems of donation and transplantation — whether it’s resolving access issues to transplantation for the uninsured, changing the rules governing transplant programs to find better ways to trans-

The final key message is that donation transcends all of the things that divide us. It transcends race, religion, economic status and geography. Our Interfaith Council is a perfect example. All of those leaders from many different religions came together in a single room to talk about donation. It was donation that brought them together, and it is donation that can unite all communities in positive ways.

We have an opportunity to have profound impact on our community through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. We can be a leader in our community for positive change.

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HOSPITAL PERFORMANCE METRICS* Gift of Hope works in partnership with 180 hospitals and nine transplant centers to meet the ever-growing demand for donor organs and fulfill the organization’s vision — that every opportunity for organ and tissue donation is successful. Here’s a look at key donation performance metrics for Illinois and northwest Indiana hospitals and the contributions these hospitals are making to give hope and life to others.

Hospital

Organ Donors

Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital Adventist GlenOaks Hospital Adventist Hinsdale Hospital Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital Advocate BroMenn Medical Center Advocate Christ Medical Center Advocate Condell Medical Center Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Advocate Sherman Hospital Advocate South Suburban Hospital Advocate Trinity Hospital Alexian Brothers Medical Center Blessing Hospital Carle Foundation Hospital Centegra Hospital: McHenry Centegra Hospital: Woodstock Central DuPage Hospital Community Hospital of Munster Copley Memorial Hospital Decatur Memorial Hospital Delnor Community Hospital Edward Hospital Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Evanston Hospital Franciscan St. Anthony Health Franciscan St. James: Chicago Heights Franciscan St. James: Olympia Fields Franciscan St. Margaret Health: Dyer Franciscan St. Margaret Health: Hammond Freeport Memorial Hospital Galesburg Cottage Hospital Genesis Medical Center, Illini Campus Glenbrook Hospital Gottlieb Memorial Hospital Highland Park Hospital Hines VA Hospital Holy Cross Hospital

2 1 1 1 3 19 11 4 1 8 12 1 1 0 1 4 17 1 0 3 3 1 1 1 2 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0

Donation Conversion Rate 50 100 67 100 50 60 88 70 100 90 88 33 100 0 50 67 77 33 0 56 57 100 50 100 50 75 50 100 NA 50 100 50 0 0 0 0 33 50 NA 100

Donation Authorization Rate 60 100 100 100 75 62 92 88 100 89 86 100 100 0 67 56 81 100 NA 56 60 100 50 100 67 75 50 100 NA 100 100 50 0 NA 0 0 33 100 NA 100

*Through 12/31/13. Note: Data subject to change due to Gift of Hope’s quality assurance process.

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Connections - Hospital Performance Metrics

Timely Notification Rate 100 100 66 100 100 96 100 80 100 92 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 NA 100 66 100 100 100 NA 50 100 100 100 NA 100 100 60 50 NA NA

Hospital

Organ Donors

Ingalls Hospital Kindred Hospital Chicago: Central Kindred Hospital Chicago: North Kindred Hospital: Peoria Kindred Hospital: Sycamore Kishwaukee Community Hospital Little Company of Mary Hospital Loretto Hospital Loyola University Medical Center Lurie Children’s Hospital MacNeal Memorial Hospital Memorial Medical Center Mercy Hospital and Medical Center Methodist Hospital: Northlake Methodist Hospital: Southlake Metro South Medical Center Morris Hospital Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center Northwest Community Hospital Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital Norwegian American Hospital OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center OSF Saint Francis Medical Center OSF St. Joseph Medical Center OSF St. Mary Medical Center Palos Community Hospital Passavant Memorial Area Hospital Pekin Memorial Hospital Presence Covenant Medical Center Presence Holy Family Medical Center Presence Mercy Medical Center Presence Our Lady of the Resurrection Presence Resurrection Medical Center Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Presence St. Francis Hospital Presence St. Joseph Hospital: Chicago Presence St. Joseph Hospital: Elgin Presence St. Joseph Medical Center Presence St. Mary’s Hospital: Kankakee Presence United Samaritans Medical Center Proctor Hospital Richland Memorial Hospital Riverside Medical Center Rockford Memorial Hospital Rush Oak Park Hospital Rush University Medical Center

1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 15 4 2 5 0 3 5 2 0 8 5 0 8 0 8 0 24 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 3 1 2 0 4 7 2 0 0 0 3 10 2 18

Donation Conversion Rate 44 NA NA NA NA 100 100 100 85 67 67 62 50 100 60 50 0 65 73 NA 75 50 69 NA 85 33 0 50 NA NA 33 NA 0 78 50 33 67 50 60 78 50 NA NA NA 45 83 100 63

Donation Authorization Rate 67 NA NA NA NA 100 100 100 76 100 67 83 50 100 60 67 0 67 80 NA 75 100 80 NA 88 100 0 50 NA NA 100 NA 0 78 50 33 100 100 67 78 100 NA NA NA 83 92 100 67

Timely Notification Rate 66 NA NA NA NA 100 100 100 86 100 100 90 100 100 100 60 100 88 91 NA 100 66 91 NA 91 100 100 66 NA NA 100 NA 100 100 87 100 100 50 100 80 100 NA NA NA 88 100 100 100

Connections - Hospital Performance Metrics

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HOSPITAL PERFORMANCE METRICS

Hospital

Donation Conversion Rate

Organ Donors

Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center 0 Silver Cross Hospital 5 Skokie Hospital 0 South Shore Hospital 1 St. Alexius Medical Center 2 St. Anthony Hospital 0 St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital 0 St. Bernard Hospital and Healthcare Center 2 St. Catherine Hospital 0 St. John’s Hospital 11 St. Mary Medical Center 1 St. Mary’s Hospital 1 Stroger Hospital of Cook County 8 Swedish Covenant Hospital 1 Taylorville Memorial Hospital 0 Thorek Hospital and Medical Center 0 Unity Point Health: Methodist Medical Center 0 Unity Point Health: Trinity 1 University of Chicago Medicine 13 University of Illinois Hospital 7 Vista Medical Center: East 8 Weiss Memorial Hospital 0 West Suburban Medical Center 2 Westlake Community Hospital 0

323

NA 83 100 100 75 0 NA 100 100 92 60 67 62 100 NA NA 100 33 56 58 75 67 67 100 70%

Donation Authorization Rate NA 75 100 100 67 0 NA 100 100 92 60 50 73 100 NA NA 100 33 65 56 82 50 67 NA 73%

Timely Notification Rate NA 100 50 100 100 100 NA 100 100 85 100 75 88 100 NA NA 66 50 92 100 100 100 50 50 91%

Glossary of Terms Organ Donors Donors from whom one or more organs were recovered for the purpose of transplantation. This includes both donation after brain death, or DBD, donors and donation after circulatory death, or DCD, donors.

Donation Authorization Rate The rate at which authorization for donation is obtained, expressed as a percentage.

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Connections - Hospital Performance Metrics

Donation Conversion Rate The rate at which potential donors are converted to actual donors, expressed as a percentage.

Timely Notification Rate The rate at which hospitals contact Gift of Hope after a death or within one hour after an individual meets the criteria for imminent death and before the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies, expressed as a percentage.

STATE OF DONATION

2013 *

2012 *

% Change

Organ Donors

323

270

20%

Organs Transplanted

919

807

14%

Organs Per Donor

2.85

2.99

-5%

Tissue Donors

1,487

1,202

24%

Bone Donors **

945

862

10%

Heart Valves Recovered **

203

140

45%

Skin Donors **

1,147

845

36%

5,363* in Illinois

121,021* in U.S.

1,551* in Indiana

*Through December 31 **Subset of Tissue Donors

The number of patients waiting for heart, liver, kidney, lung, pancreas or small bowel transplants as of January 31, 2014.

Illinois Organ & Tissue Donor Registry

5,412,418

* Based on data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network

As of January 31, 2014

56% 300 18 Of adults (18 or older) in Illinois are registered as organ and tissue donors.

:10

Every 10 minutes, a new person is added to the national transplant waiting list.

In 2013, more than 300 people registered for transplants in Illinois died while waiting.

25

One donor can save or enhance the lives of more than 25 people.

An average of 18 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.

Make a Difference!

REGISTER TO BE AN ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR

GiftofHope.org

Connections - State of Donation

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Indicia here 425 Spring Lake Drive Itasca, IL 60143

Register to Be an Organ and Tissue Donor at GiftofHope.org

A Donate Life Organization

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

National Blue & Green Day 2014 National Blue & Green Day is April 11. On this day — part of the month-long National Donate Life Month observance — the public is encouraged to wear blue and green, hold events and partner with local media and community organizations to raise awareness of organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation. To learn more about National Blue & Green Day 2014, visit GiftofHope.org or DonateLife.net.

Calendar of Events March 12 Advocates for Hope Our Stories & How We Share Them Webinar GiftofHope.org

May 2 Funeral Director Seminar Itasca, Ill. GiftofHope.org

October 4 Advocates for Hope Speechwriter’s Workshop Itasca, Ill. GiftofHope.org

April 2014 National Donate Life Month GiftofHope.org

May 3 Advocates for Hope Orientation Springfield, Ill. GiftofHope.org

October 5 Advocates for Hope Speechwriter’s Workshop Central Illinois Location TBD GiftofHope.org

August 1 – 7 National Minority Donor Awareness Week DonateLife.net

October 23 Advocates for Hope Messaging Webinar GiftofHope.org

September 6 Advocates for Hope Orientation Peoria, Ill. GiftofHope.org

November 6 Advocates for Hope Our Stories & How We Share Them Webinar GiftofHope.org

April 11 National Blue & Green Day GiftofHope.org April 26 Advocates for Hope Orientation Munster, Ind. GiftofHope.org