Page 4 - LGS Today Newsletter Fall 2021

EBAA
SAFETY FIRST.
INNOVATION ALWAYS.
is
award is supported by an unre- stricted educational grant from the International Journal of Eye Banking (founded by Lions Gift of Sight and now published by the EBAA). The 2021 winner is a former University of Minnesota fellow, Dr. Sana Qureshi with her paper Safety of Eye Bank Prepared Pre-stripped, Pre-stained, Pre-loaded Descemet’s Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (p3DMEK).
Lions Gift of Sight is an Eye Bank Association of America-accredited eye bank, and we are ever apprecia- tive of all that the association does to advance the field and craft of eye banking.
One amazing resource the EBAA offers is their annual meeting. This invaluable gathering space (lately virtual) for eye banking professionals offers a wealth of opportunities and
information to attendees, including technical skills workshops, sessions on all aspects of eye banking from tissue recovery through aftercare for families, a scientific symposium, the presentation of phenomenal papers, and much more.
Lions Gift of Sight is honored to sponsor the Best Paper of Session Award at the upcoming Novem- ber 2021 meeting. The prestigious
4 Lions Gift of Sight
Partnering with Funeral Directors to Serve Families
For many years after the founding of Minnesota Lions Eye Bank / Lions Gift of Sight in 1960, donations still occurred predominantly in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metro Area. Eye donation opportunities for deceased persons in greater Minnesota were severely limited, and this didn’t seem right for a state eye bank.
To remedy the geographic limitations and bring eye donation services to the entire state, legislation was passed authorizing specially-trained morticians to remove eyes, thus increasing the supply potential. And to support this 1974 legislation, the eye bank developed a training program to teach funeral directors enucleation (the removal of eyes for eye banking purposes). Minnesota funeral directors did not disappoint but generously and enthusiastically embraced their new role. They became increasingly active in supplying donor eye tissue to the eye bank, and, indeed, were the cornerstone of eye recovery in greater Minnesota for 30 years!
The efforts of funeral directors resulted in more than 10,000 enucleated eyes and thousands of corneal transplants.
While eye and cornea recovery has become progressively more complex and is now solely in the hands of eye bank staff members, Lions Gift of Sight
remains indebted to funeral directors and morticians for their past service and for the care they provide to the families of eye donors.
With funeral directors, we share the commitment to honor donation wishes of deceased persons. Out of respect for this valued partnership, Lions Gift of Sight continuously seeks ways to minimize the impact that eye donation has on the work of morticians and to increase our understanding of the challenges facing the profession. To that end, in March, we welcomed Giselle Wynia to the Partner & Community Relations team. Giselle works with hospitals and other donation referral sources, but she was also hired to strengthen our funeral service outreach.
Giselle earned her mortician license in 2008 and joined the University of Minnesota in 2016 as an academic advisor for the Program of Mortuary Science. She also taught embalming, restorative arts, and human anatomy and was the course coordinator for the Anatomy Bequest Program. Giselle is an invaluable addition to the eye bank team and joins five other employees with a background in mortuary science: donor coordinators Laura Kalk, Jen Kastner, Kari Obbink, and Kristen Piringer, and eye bank scientist Chris LaGassie.
Lions Gift of Sight exhibited at the Minnesota Funeral