Page 2 - Lions Gift of Sight Today

Lions Gift of Sight
TODAY
SPRING 2021
Recipient Volunteers . . Lions Eye Banks . . . . . LCIF Grant. . . . . . . . . . Veterans Affairs . . . . . . EBAA 20/20 In Review Donate Life Month. . . . Donor Recognition . . . Quality Team Spotlight Donor Spotlight. . . . . . Recipient Spotlight . . .
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Lions Gift of Sight TODAY is published twice a year by the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Lions Gift of Sight
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences
1000 Westgate Drive - Ste 260 Saint Paul, MN 55114
For more information, visit
LIONSGIFTOFSIGHT.UMN.EDU 1-866-887-4448
2 Lions Gift of Sight
One Year Later
Sean Poppoff, Executive Director
March 16 marked the 1-year anniversary of the University of Minnesota’s man- date that employees that could work from home (half of Lions Gift of Sight staff) must work from home. Businesses and organizations across the world were similarly impacted as the pandemic spread from country to country, state to state, and person to person. We had to rethink jobs we thought there was only one way to do. We were encouraged to practice agile thinking and view everything with a fresh eye. Regardless of our age or experience, we felt like rookies, scrambling to render the quality of work we always prided ourselves on.
It is not that eye banks were hit harder than other professions. People’s lives and livelihoods were impacted all over the globe. But it was happening to us, influencing our mission to restore sight. We took it personally, and we were not going to cry uncle! Lions Gift of Sight and eye banks across the United States persevered, thanks in no small part to the networks and leadership infrastructure that has been decades in the making.
I’m a relative newcomer to eye banking. It was only two years ago that I assumed my role as executive director. But short though my tenure is, I have an ever growing admiration for what can only be called a craft, the amazing work of eye banks. This craft has progressed and prospered because eye banks work together for success and because we have the strong leadership of the Eye Bank Association of America.
The EBAA was established in 1961, the first donation oversight agency of its kind. The fledg- ling organization immediately began gathering statistics, and, by 1962, published its first eye bank activity report. Quality assessment and improvement is built on strong data, and the EBAA recognized this from day one! In 1980, a watershed year, they instituted medical standards. Now all eye banks could be measured with the same ruler, and the EBAA could objectively award accreditation to eye banks. These actions alone would have ensured an extraordinary legacy, but the EBAA continued to offer more: technician training, continu- ing education, research support, mentor programs for new eye banks, grants for work that benefits eye banking and ophthalmology, and so much more.
Lions Gift of Sight, and its partner eye banks in the EBAA, will survive this pandemic. The need for corneal tissues for transplant and the need for cutting-edge research has not ceased. Working together, we have learned so much in the past year, and we will use this knowledge to meet the needs of the ophthalmology community for many years to come. Thank you for accompanying us on this journey.