Volunteers - A Vital Link

John and Kathleen Sauer of Mechanicsville, Iowa, and Charlotte and George Machacek of Marion Iowa.

These two teams of volunteers help in such capacities as volunteering at Information Desk at the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology in Iowa City.

One of the most important links in the network of the Iowa Lions Eye Bank is the volunteers. Since we are a non-profit organization, we rely heavily on volunteers who perform in many capacities:

• Certified Enucleators - These people are usually funeral Directors, but with the recent change in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act in who can be certified, we are seeing more nurses and other health care professionals being trained to perform the eye removals. All of these people volunteer their time to ensure that the eye donation process is carried out in a timely and sensitive manner.

• Iowa State Patrol - The Iowa Lions Eye Bank is extremely fortunate to have excellent cooperation of each of the 16 districts of the Iowa State Patrol in relaying eye tissue from any location in Iowa to the eye Bank. They have been providing this service since the inception of the Eye Bank in 1955, and they are to be commended for this invaluable humanitarian service.

• Certified Designated Requestor - This group of healthcare providers -- nurses, physicians, morticians, chaplains, and social workers -- are our link to families in offering the option of donation when families are making other end of life decisions. The are considered the experts on eye donation within their hospital and work in coordination with eye bank staff in meeting the needs of families if donation is to occur.

• The Lions of Iowa - This group of humanitarian-minded individuals not only assisted in founding the Iowa Lions Eye Bank, but has contributed financially to the support of the Eye Bank on an annual basis since 1955. Nearly 14,000 Lions members representing over 400 clubs throughout the state of Iowa live up to their motto "We Serve" through their diligent support of the Iowa Lions Eye Bank.

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