December 13, 2018
The ability to work together toward the common vision of saving more lives will soon become easier for Nebraska Organ Recovery and the Douglas County Coroner’s office.
With the completion of Nebraska Organ Recovery’s new building in January, both offices will play host to spaces within the new construction on Leavenworth.
Working toward collaboration, the newly shared space will allow for easier communication between both parties when donation and coroner’s investigations occur simultaneously.
Any time a suspicious death is reported, the coroner’s office is required to complete an investigation. It’s important that donation still occurs to uphold family and individual wishes, but without compromising evidence and the investigative process.
So far in 2018, Nebraska Organ Recovery has had 226 organ, tissue and eye donors. About 30 percent of those involved collaboration with the coroner’s office.
Dr. Erin Linde, M.D., is one pathologist who has worked closely with Nebraska Organ Recovery to ensure both processes can occur.
Being able to communicate easily makes the process much more efficient and easier.
For Dr. Linde, this inspiration to continually collaborate came from a personal story she heard from a family member of an organ donor.
“I had the opportunity to listen to a family member talk and share his loved ones’ story and how much it meant to his family that despite the circumstances, their loved one lived on,” she said in an interview with Live On Nebraska. “It was incredible that this gentleman could name specifically what organs were donated and what happened to them. It really shifted the framework of my thought process.”