(Southwest Transplant Alliance) – For something so critically important, organ and tissue donation are woefully misunderstood.

There are numerous myths and misconceptions – some of them dangerous – swirling around the donation of lifesaving gifts such as hearts, kidneys, corneas, skin and heart valves. There’s also virtually no awareness of the people who work for one of the nation’s 56 not-for-profit organ procurement organizations. The nation’s organ donation community employs trained and highly skilled professionals who have the medical expertise to coordinate the donation process.

Much more than just technical skills are needed to excel in the field of organ and tissue recovery. What’s needed are compassion and respect that can give the gift of hope to donor families experiencing the tragic loss of a loved one. Those providing this specialized care must – and do – hone these skills from instructors who care about their students.

There’s tremendous pressure on organ procurement organizations, including the Southwest Transplant Alliance, to hire people with the right skills. With the correct blend of innovative practices and highly trained and skilled employees, we can reduce the waiting list for organs in this country and help improve and save the lives of more people.

Approximately 104,000 men, women and children are now awaiting a kidney, liver, heart or other organ. Although more than 42,000 transplant operations are performed in the United States each year, 17 people still die every day while waiting. Every organ donor has the potential to save up to eight lives, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services’ Health Resources & Services Administration. Tissue donors have the ability to restore health, reduce pain and promote healing for approximately 75 individuals. Patients with severe burns, athletes with torn ligaments and military members injured in combat depend on these healing gifts from approximately 58,000 tissue donors annually. Not only do organ and tissue donations benefit the recipients, but they also give comfort, closure and peace to families and friends who know that their loved one was able to help someone else.

Those who work for organ procurement organizations generally have traditional medical backgrounds but apply their skills and knowledge in a different way. Organizations like ours hire medical doctors, registered nurses, surgical technicians, certified nursing assistants and medical assistants because exceptional medical and critical thinking skills form the foundation for screening potential donors, coordinating with hospitals to recover organs and tissues and transporting these healing and life-saving gifts to recipients.

This work requires a specialized toolkit. The people who perform best in this high-pressure environment are passionate about their unique role in the nation’s health care system. They are good communicators who hear, respect and truly understand the people they work with and the families they support. For many of them, their work honors the legacy of a family member or other loved one who has received an organ or tissue donation.

Tayler Porras is someone with the required skills to excel in this field. Porras began working at the Southwest Transplant Alliance in 2021 after earning her associate degree in health and medical administrative services from The College of Health Care Professions, Texas’ largest provider of allied health education. She had always enjoyed helping people – tending bar and waiting tables let her do that. She thought a medical career would allow her to help more people in more important ways and provide stability for her and her children for the rest of her working life. At STA, she could help save countless lives and be part of something bigger and important.

In her initial role as a referral intake coordinator, Porras served as a liaison between hospital nurses, who referred patients for possible donations, and STA staff, who determined whether patients were suitable donor candidates. This job requires the medical knowledge and logistical and organizational skills she learned at CHCP.

After going on to earn her bachelor’s degree from CHCP, Porras has been promoted to hospital services coordinator. In this role, she works with nurses, doctors and administrators at multiple hospitals in the region to develop policies and educate personnel about organ and tissue donation. She sometimes supports families, which requires her to be caring and compassionate in the same way her CHCP instructors were with her. In this new role Porras must apply innovative thinking to solve multiple daily challenges around the important, sensitive and often misunderstood process of organ and tissue donation.

Despite the joy that comes from providing lifesaving gifts to people in need, this is not easy work. The environment is fast-paced, and the stress is real. But when we are able to educate the public on the benefits of organ and tissue donation and hire staff who are skilled and caring, we can heal more people and maximize this awesome responsibility we have been tasked with.

Alexandra Headley is the director of Donation Services and Allocation at Southwest Transplant Alliance.