Page 6 - Lions Gift of Sight Today

EBAA
SAFETY FIRST.
INNOVATION ALWAYS.
The Eye Bank Association of America has released its 20/20 Year in Review. U.S. eye banks recovered tissue from 54,740 donors, and these donors made possible 66,278 cor- neal transplants. In addition, more than 17,000 tissues were devoted to research and medical education.
Was eye banking affected by the pandemic? Absolutely! The contributions above were 20 to 30 percent less than those in 2019. Potential donors were ruled out because of COVID-19. Surgeries were postponed or canceled. Eye banks pivoted to remote operations when possible and often worked with reduced staffing.
Yet we prevailed.
Did You Know?
Many people can be eye donors.
Cataracts, age, poor eyesight, and most types of cancer do not necessarily prohibit someone from becoming an eye donor.
Eye donation is the most common of the three types of donation (organ, tissue, and eye).
See above for reasons why!
Every 7 minutes someone receives a corneal transplant from an EBAA-accredited eye bank.
Corneal transplants are the most commonly- performed type of transplant.
The human eye cannot be transplanted.
Only the cornea (clear window at the front of the eye) and parts of the sclera (white of the eye) are transplantable. However, the whole eye can be donated for research and medical education.
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6 Lions Gift of Sight
April is Donate Life Month, and we encourage Americans to register as organ, tissue, and eye donors. We would also like to honor those who have saved lives through the gift of donation. And finally, we want to salute our partners in the donation field: American Donor Services, American Tissue Services Founda- tion, and LifeSource.
Happy Donate Life Month!
LGS Donor Recognition Program
Lions Gift of Sight holds programs to honor and recognize our eye donors, and our next event will be on Sunday, May 23. Featured will be donors from 2019 and 2020.
This recognition event will be pre-recorded (not in person) and will include a tribute
by corneal surgeon and LGS Medical Director, Joshua Hou, M.D., as well as University of Minnesota research scientist Deb Ferrington, Ph.D. Also featured will be Paige, telling her story as a corneal recipient, and a slide show of 2019 and 2020 eye donors.
Visit
https://lionsgiftofsight.umn.edu/ Recognition-Program
for more information.