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From start to finish, Communications Center is at the heart of donation

February 14, 2020

It all starts with a phone call.

Hospitals and other donation partners call Live On Nebraska when a patient has died or their family has made the difficult decision to end life-sustaining care.

In the past, those calls were answered by an outsourced service provider.

Live On Nebraska began conversations years ago to bring this critical step in the donation process in house. The goal: to provide better customer service to our partner organizations, streamline the donor screening process and better support our tissue donor families.

When plans to build a new headquarters for the organization came to fruition, the dream became reality.

Inside the walls of Live On Nebraska’s Communication Center, donation coordinators receive death notification calls, conduct patient health screenings, obtain authorization for tissue donation, coordinate transportation, relay information to the organ recovery teams, comfort tissue donor families, coordinate with funeral homes and more.

Organization, critical thinking, patience, composure, empathy and efficiency are a must.

“Taking the worst possible moment in someone’s life and offering them the opportunity to make it into the most meaningful is so rewarding,” said Jacquline Cannon, Donation Coordinator. “To approach them with empathy and give them something great and lasting to take focus on rather than the loss and grief is so incredible.”

The Communication Center officially began operations March 4, 2019. Ten months later, they initiated the donation process for a record number of donors in Nebraska.

Colin Sandoz, Director of Tissue & Communication Services, said the Communication Center has achieved several of its objectives in its first year.

“Having our own center gives us greater flexibility and the ability to adapt to the needs of our donor families and partners,” he said.

The greatest benefit, however, is providing more families the opportunity to donate.

“We’re proud to be an integral part of a record-breaking year,” said Colin. “As we continue to grow and refine our processes, we look forward to serving even more families.”

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