Champions of Hope Gala

Our community partner champion is a longtime storyteller, who uses his platform to share incredible stories about athletes and sports teams. Little did he know that he’d have the chance to use that same platform to share his own story and his very personal connection to donation.

In August 2023 he was diagnosed with Stage 5 kidney failure and endured many months of weekly dialysis treatments, disrupting his work and his life. Then, this past April, he received the call that he would be receiving a kidney from a gracious, living donor—a donor who he happened to know and work with on occasion.

His transplant surgery took place this past spring and now, as he enjoys a new quality of life, this champion continues to use his platform to not only bring awareness to donation, but to thank the donor who saved his life – Lindy Noel, Corporate Communication Specialist for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This hospital PR champion and her team work hard to keep her hospital in the spotlight of the communities they serve, and she brings Lifeline of Ohio along for the journey whenever possible.

Alice organized an amazing flag-raising ceremony for Donate Life Month that included incredible stories from a donor and a recipient.  She even provided donor registration information to a group from her local chamber of commerce.

Lifeline of Ohio is tagged in stories throughout the year in a variety of sources thanks to her. And most of those posts end with an invitation to join the Ohio Donor Registry.

Finally, thanks to her efforts, Knox Community Hospital earned national Gold recognition in the annual DoNation campaign this year.

Our hospital donation champion is a person who gets things done. He has partnered with Lifeline of Ohio to develop a donation council and plan Donate Life Month events, including a pinwheel ceremony and Donate Life Walk this past year. He is excited to introduce Lifeline of Ohio to key hospital stakeholders, strengthening our partnership.

Through his work, he recognized the need for greater health literacy within the community and now leads a group of hospital and Lifeline of Ohio staff in partnership to resolve the issue. This project will help identify how rural community hospitals can help patients on the waitlist for a kidney transplant better understand the process, their waitlist status, and what they need to do to remain on the waitlist. The result of this will literally save lives. And it could serve as a model for other hospitals.

This champion has also worked with hospital PR to have donation information shared on local radio and television and social media.

As families experience the loss of a loved one and the extreme emotional aspect of the donation process, our hospital spiritual care champion is there as a comfort and guide. Whether it’s saying the right words or quietly and actively listening, she provides a way for families to begin the healing process.

This champion has a gift for connecting with others in an authentic way. Throughout the donation process, she supports and collaborates with hospital staff to provide appropriate care and compassion to donor families from all walks of life.

The person who nominated this champion said, “Whenever I’m involved with a potential donor patient, I am glad to have this champion as part of the team because I know the patient and the family will get the best spiritual care support out there.”

A phenomenal advocate for donation, she sits on the hospital donation council and is always ready to help support donation in any way that she can.

Our tissue hospital champion is an example of how a little extra attention and effort can make an enormous impact.

Within the last year, this hospital system has formed a donation council that meets quarterly. The council is represented with a cross-section of departments including C-suite, labor and delivery management, ED management, ICU management, marketing and the director of patient experience.

Also, within the last year, this hospital system has made great strides in their donation processes by educating staff, collaborating with Lifeline of Ohio and updating their policies.

But more importantly than processes, this healthcare champion truly cares about its patients and community members. It has developed a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Health Literacy initiative related to donation, with a focus on caring for patients on the transplant waitlist in need of a kidney. What’s also exciting about this project is that two major transplant centers have come to the table as additional stakeholders. It’s hopeful that this project can have a far-reaching impact beyond Ohio.

Speaking of impact, in the last two years, this health system has had 13 tissue donors. One tissue donor can heal more than 75 people. This means that hundreds of people received the gift of healing through the generosity of these donor heroes and the efforts made by this healthcare provider, and 13 donors now have a legacy of healing others.

To honor their donors and bring awareness to organ, eye and tissue donation, this champion went above and beyond for Donate Life Month this year. They held a Donate Life Walk that was well-advertised and well-attended by the community. The marketing team produced video stories of staff who had connections to donation and played them during the opening ceremony of the event. They also had a pinwheel garden in honor of their tissue and cornea donors and displayed donor memorial quilts at all four of their facilities.

Finally, they have increased promotion efforts around organ, eye, tissue and placenta donation through social media and local media outlets. And, they will be nationally recognized through the DoNation campaign, earning the highest platinum award for increasing donation awareness.

The Placenta Hospital Champion comprises a team that shows compassion to patients and collaboration with Lifeline of Ohio.

This hospital consistently supports the placenta donation program by providing community education, encouraging the labor and delivery staff to be educated on placenta donation, and talking to their patients about the program.

The labor and delivery team played a key role in the creation of this hospital’s Donation Council, and the team’s leadership regularly and actively participates in hospital-wide donation activities during Donate Life Month and throughout the year.

The L&D unit leadership has worked to streamline the placenta donation process for Lifeline of Ohio and L&D staff. For example, they implemented a Placenta Donation Checklist to ensure necessary medical records are readily available and promote communication between our teams.

This team not only cares about processes, but more importantly they care about the patients who are donating. They have created their own Donation Tree in the unit, where each placenta donor, upon discharge, gets to place their baby’s birthdate on a leaf, celebrating their placenta donation.

Our hospital donation liaison champion wears many hats as a nurse, an educator, an agent for change, a decision-maker and an advocate for donor families.

Her passion for donation education is energizing. She speaks with residents and nursing students about organ donation and works to provide outreach opportunities within her community.

In every case, Jessica ensures donors and their families are cared for with the utmost compassion, and that every donor’s and donor family’s decisions are honored. She understands the importance of helping donor families achieve peace and healing, and she works with them and hospital staff to create a lasting legacy for their loved ones.

Compassion, kindness and going the extra mile make our funeral home champion a stand-out in their field. This past year, Lifeline of Ohio staff needed to reach out internationally to a loved one to discuss the possibility of donation for a family member in the United States.

After several communication challenges and unsuccessful attempts at contact, Lifeline of Ohio reached out to this Champion. Several hours were then spent trouble shooting, collaborating and working with the donor family to help make donation happen.

The person who submitted this nomination wrote that this award winner was “extremely professional and helpful the entire time keeping donation in mind every step of the way.” And it was evident that she “cares for donor families and being able to make donation happen.”

We are grateful for the additional steps she took and the incredible support she provided the donor, donor’s family and Lifeline of Ohio staff.

This year, a new award category was added to our list of champions. The School/Educator Champion award recognizes those who share the donation message through their work within our middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities. It honors those who believe in the generosity of future generations and serve as models of donation advocacy.

Our award winner has invited Lifeline of Ohio into her Sociology of Death and Dying class for years to educate her students on organ, eye and tissue donation. Her students are often already working in clinical areas and are extremely attentive, asking thoughtful questions and engaging with our outreach coordinator.

Many students have registered their donation decision after learning about donation in class and have spoken to their families about their decision. Others have even attended Lifeline of Ohio community events and mentioned their interest in working for our organization.

This champion also works to raise awareness and question historic inequities in the medical field, including donation within the Black community. She does this by creating a safe and open space for discussion and information-sharing within her classroom.

Our transplant center champion has been integral to the donation programs for her hospital.

Over the past year, she has facilitated a large quality and process improvement project to help identify potential organ donors and notification management. This is at the source of how donation is made possible.

Through this project, she has fostered a culture of courage, learning, solution-seeking and partnership with Lifeline of Ohio staff.  Her impact far extends her reach as she has become an inspiration for her colleagues, has helped improve the end-of-life experience for families, and has aided in implementing processes that will help save lives of those she will never have the chance to meet.

Her guidance, dedication and desire for solutions have made an impact in the donation space.

Our hospital executive champion is a special kind of leader. She understands that successful leadership comes from providing support to and being present for her colleagues and her community.

This past year, Lifeline of Ohio partnered with this champion’s hospital to hold a donation awareness ceremony for its leadership. In April, the hospital held a special flag-raising ceremony during Donate Life Month to honor donors. Whenever donation discussions take place at this hospital, this champion is seated at the table, ready and willing to collaborate.

As an advocate for rural communities and small community hospitals, she is passionate about donation being a part of those communities and works with her team to create a culture of donation awareness.

She’s also never too busy to lend a hand. In fact, when Lifeline of Ohio needed more shawls for our Donor Family Shawl program, this champion was one of the first to volunteer to crochet shawls!

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles is the frontline of donor registration. Every person applying for a license or state ID is asked if they’d like to register to be a donor. And every time that question is asked, it has the power to save and heal lives.

Our BMV champion has been a deputy registrar for more than 40 years and advocates for donation in her tight-knit community. She happily displays every bit of donation info Lifeline of Ohio provides and has had our staff train and re-train the BMV staff throughout the years. Her BMV has a consistent registration rate of 67% or higher.

Our physician champion is a respected leader, a consummate professional and a compassionate and caring doctor. He is also an incredible advocate for donation.

In one instance, this champion volunteered to stay past his shift to help the Lifeline of Ohio team through the donation process. He also attends every honor walk that he can to support donor families and his colleagues who are caring for the donors. His compassion is overwhelming when he cares for donor families—bringing them comfort, keeping them informed of the process, and even sitting at a donor’s side with his hand on their shoulder.

Because of his willingness to listen and make process improvements when appropriate, his advocacy for donation, his collaboration with Lifeline of Ohio teams, and, of course, his deep compassion and care for donors and their families, this physician is a champion!

The incredible leadership and collaboration that’s been shown throughout this past year between this champion and Lifeline of Ohio is a key to why he has earned the Medical Examiner/Coroner Champion award.

Dr. Overmire led his team in launching a website that allows communication and documentation between our two organizations. This technology allows us to share forensic photography and provide labs, imaging and test results for donors. This system can also provide death referrals, so all county residents who fall under the coroner’s jurisdiction will now have the opportunity to donate tissue and corneas. 

He also has been instrumental in other areas as well, which directly leads to more lives being saved. 

Since 2019, Lifeline of Ohio’s Placenta Donation Program has grown exponentially to include 26 partnering hospitals and approximately 110 OBGYN offices throughout Central and Southeast Ohio and Wood and Hancock counties in West Virginia.

With so many OBGYN practices in the program, it is always difficult to give just one award. However, this year the OBGYN Practice Champion award winner really stood out because of their dedication to the tenets of advocacy, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

The person who made the nomination said, “I was asked to give a presentation to the OB/GYN residents about the Placenta Donation Program and was amazed at how engaged they were and what thoughtful questions they asked.”

This champion practice is staffed by OBGYN residents who provide care to a high-need population.

Because of this, health literacy and accessibility are paramount to the chief resident and staff, and they are excited to be able to share the different language options on the Lifeline of Ohio website with their patients.

In addition, the manager has been instrumental in creating a process to ensure all those who are eligible to donate their placentas have the opportunity, regardless of language barriers.

This champion practice has been the most active teaching practice in the Lifeline of Ohio Placenta Donation Program since 2022 and is still going strong today!

The Nurse Champion award category drew the most nominees this year, with 33 submissions. And while it was difficult for our judging panel to choose just one award winner, it’s not difficult to see why our nurse champion deserves the honor.

Our award winner has been instrumental in affecting hospital policy surrounding donation. She also has trained her staff in using bridging language to help introduce Lifeline of Ohio staff to potential donor families in an appropriate and timely way.

The care and compassion she has for these families extends to the work she has done in implementing a donor dedication wall at her hospital. This will serve as a space to honor donor heroes and support their families in the healing process.

She continues to help create a culture of donation by having t-shirts made for her unit that say: “Organ Donation Saves Lives.”

Her advocacy and leadership along with her care and compassion help make the donation process stronger at her hospital while recognizing and honoring the legacies of donors and their families.