2023 Impact Report
BECOME A DONOR

Resolve to Make a Difference in 2016

Jan 7, 2016 | News

For many, the New Year means new resolutions. Some resolve to spend more time with family, while some resolve to live healthier. Others might resolve to make a difference in 2016. At Saving Sight, we change lives every day. It’s easy for you to join us in our mission to save sight and make a difference this year in the lives of
those we serve.

Saving Sight helped bring the gift of sight to more than 7 people everyday in 2015 by coordinating eye donation in Missouri, Kansas and central Illinois. You can enhance and save more than 50 lives simply by joining the eye, organ, and tissue donor registry today. Become a registered donor at registerme.org.

Saving Sight & EBAA Award 2016 Jachin Misko Memorial Scholarship

Saving Sight & EBAA Award 2016 Jachin Misko Memorial Scholarship

Jan 6, 2016 | News

Kelly Odell of Lions VisionGift in Portland, Oregon is the 2016 recipient of the Jachin Misko Memorial Scholarship for Technical Advancement in Eye Banking.

The Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) and Saving Sight awarded the 2016 Jachin Misko Memorial Scholarship for Technical Advancement in Eyebanking to Kelly Odell, a processing technician at Lions VisionGift in Oregon. The scholarship will support Odell’s attendance at the EBAA’s Technician Education Seminar January 20-23 in Tampa, Florida. 

The Misko memorial scholarship honors the memory of Jachin Misko who was a leader in eye banking at Saving Sight. Misko was instrumental in Saving Sight’s establishment of a DSAEK cutting lab and served on several national committees with the EBAA. The sholarship has honored his legacy over the last three years by helping send a promising eye bank technician to EBAA’s annual Technician Education Seminar. 

“This scholarship is a particularly meaningful way to honor Jachin because it represents the impact he had on all of us and on changing lives by saving sight through eye banking,” said Saving Sight CEO Tony Bavuso. 

Odell has been a member of the Lions VisionGift team since March 2014. Since that time, she’s transitioned from a per diem recovery technician to full-time recovery technician and then from a processing technician I to her current position as a processing technician II. She says seeing the impact her work has on others is the most rewarding part of what she does. 

“We can be pretty far removed from the process,” Odell said, “So getting notes back from donor families and donor recipients really puts what we do into perspective. Knowing how meaningful transplanted corneas and tissue can be to the families who benefit, it’s rewarding to be a part of that.” 

The Jachin Misko Memorial Scholarship for Technical Advancement in Eye Banking is made possible by Saving Sight and Numedis, a producer of corneal preservation media. 

“It’s a pretty amazing opportunity that Saving Sight and Numedis provides to help eye bank technicians who might not otherwise get to attend the Technician Education Seminar to learn more about the practice of eyebanking,” Odell said. “I’m extremely honored to receive the scholarship.”

 

Saving Sight Works with Local Hospitals to Honor Eye Donors

Saving Sight Works with Local Hospitals to Honor Eye Donors

Dec 3, 2015 | News

Dolan Dalpoas, President of Abraham
Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln,
Illinois, signs a rose vial in honor of eye
donors from the hospital.

On January 1 each year, millions from around the world ring in the New Year by tuning in to watch the annual Tournament of Roses Parade broadcast from Pasadena, California. Floats featured in the parade are covered completely with natural materials, each containing more flowers than the average florist will use in five years. While every float is adorned with beautiful flowers, the roses of one float are unique.

Since 2004, Donate Life America has used the global platform the Rose Parade provides to share the life changing power of organ, eye and tissue donation with the world. A special rose dedication garden on the float honors the legacy of donors and the partners who help make organ, eye and tissue donation possible. Saving Sight is working with partner hospitals across its service region to honor the more than 1,600 eye donors who have given the gift of sight through eye donation in 2015 by dedicating roses in their honor on the 2016 Donate Life Rose Parade float.

“It’s an incredible gift these donors make through eye donation. They forever change the lives of corneal transplant recipients,” said Saving Sight Chief Executive Officer Tony Bavuso. “We’re excited to work with local hospitals to honor that gift by dedicating roses that will be seen around the world as part of the 13 Donate Life Rose Parade float.”

Saving Sight has coordinated rose vial signings at partner hospitals across Missouri, Kansas, and central Illinois, inviting hospital executives to sign a vial with a message honoring eye donors from the hospital. The message, and a rose dedicated by Saving Sight for those donors, will ride aboard the Donate Life Rose Parade float, “Treasure Life’s Journey,” on January 1.

You can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance the lives of up to 50 more as an organ, eye and tissue donor. Join the more than 120 million Americans who have registered change lives as a donor. Visit registerme.org to sign up for the organ, eye and tissue donor registry today.

 

Donor Medical Records May Hold Key to Enhancing Stewardship of Donated Tissue

Donor Medical Records May Hold Key to Enhancing Stewardship of Donated Tissue

Nov 18, 2015 | News, Research

Gabriel Rand (left) and Patrick Gore (right) at the Cornea Society and Eye Bank Association of America’s Fall Educational Symposium.

New research could help Saving Sight and other eye banks more easily identify donated tissue which may be better suited for research than transplantation simply by examining donor medical records. A recent study of 12,703 cornea donors found use of certain topical glaucoma medications was associated with lower corneal endothelial cell density of donors. Cell density is an important factor in determining the best use of donated eye tissue.

By using this information to evaluate potential eye donor cases, Saving Sight and other eye banks could focus on recovering tissue for transplant which provide the best chance for successful transplants. Other tissue could be recovered specifically for research purposes to help save sight through advances in medical practice.

Saving Sight Senior Director of Business Development Patrick Gore, RN contributed to the research as a co-author. Gore said this research is exciting because it demonstrates how eye banks can leverage data to make decisions.

“This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of how eye banks can leverage donor information to make data-driven decisions and be the best stewards possible of the precious gift of sight donors give through eye and tissue donation,” Gore said.

The findings were presented at the Cornea Society and Eye Bank Association of America’s Fall Educational Symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 13, 2015 by Gabriel Rand, MA. In addition to Gore and Rand, tthe study was also coauthored by Ji Won Kwon, MD, PhD; Kyong Jin Cho, MD, PhD; Mitchell D. McCartney, PhD; and Roy S. Chuck, MD, PhD.

Family in Raymore to Remember Eric Roach and Support Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation through Memorial Softball Tournament on Saturday, September 20th

Sep 16, 2015 | News

Kansas City, Mo. (September 16, 2014) – Eric Roach, an ironworker from Raymore, died on July 25th at age 22 from a work-related injury. Through organ, eye and tissue donation, Eric’s tragedy resulted in hope for others in need of transplant and solace for his family. On Saturday, September 20th at 1:00 p.m. at Raymore’s Recreation Park (1011 S. Madison St., Raymore, MO 64083), Roach’s family will hold a first annual softball tournament in his memory. More than 150 participants are registered, plus many more spouses and spectators are expected to attend. The event is open to the public. The family intends the event to raise awareness
for organ, eye and tissue donation in the Kansas City community.

Upon his death, Roach donated his organs, corneas and several tissues, which saved or improved the lives of dozens of people. Becky Howard, a cousin of Roach, knows the value of donation firsthand. Her daughter was born blind due to congenital glaucoma and other eye problems, but after receiving several corneal transplants and other eye surgeries, her four-year-old daughter can now see. Furthermore, the father of Roach’s sister-in-law Darcy received a life-saving heart transplant this summer. Having experienced the benefits of donation on both sides, both Becky Howard and Darcy Roach are eager to share their story and honor Eric’s memory on September 20th.

Two Kansas City-area nonprofit organizations, Midwest Transplant Network, an organ procurement organization, and Saving Sight, an eye bank, are providing the family with educational and promotional materials to help encourage attendees to join the organ, eye and tissue donor registry.

The need for organ, eye and tissue donation is great. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 123,000 people are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. Last year, according to the Eye Bank Association of America, more than 48,000 corneas were transplanted in the U.S. And more than 1 million tissue transplants are performed each year in the U.S., according to Donate Life America.

To meet the need, Americans are encouraged to sign up for their state’s donor registry. Anyone can register to be a donor, regardless of age, race or medical history. Sign up online at the Donate Life website or at the local Department of Motor Vehicles Office.

About Saving Sight
Saving Sight is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to change lives by saving sight. Founded in Columbia, Mo. in 1960, the organization introduced eye donation and the gift of sight to Missouri. 

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Saving Sight Volunteers Promote Donor Designation at State Fair

Sep 2, 2015 | News

Connie and Lion Gerry encourage donor designation at the Missouri State Fair.

Saving Sight volunteers teamed up with the Governor’s Organ Donation Advisory Committee and Donate Life Missouri to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation at this year’s Missouri State Fair. Over six days at the State Fair, a total of thirty-eight volunteers talked with potential donors and those already on the registry to promote a supportive culture of the life-saving power of organ donation.

PDG Lion Jene of the Marshall Lions and Lion Gerry of the Forsyth Lions volunteered at the event on behalf of Saving Sight. Past organ recipient Ruthie and Gayle  also represented Saving Sight at the State Fair Donate Life booth.

Approximately 122,000 Americans of all ages are currently awaiting organ transplants in the United States. One organ donor has the ability to save up to 8 lives.

“Organ donation is a selfless gift to help enhance another’s life,” Lion Gerry said. “Volunteering was enriching as I had the opportunity to meet people who had first-hand experience in organ donation. Donor families who came to the booth told of relatives who had become donors and the good feelings they had knowing a precious gift was made so someone else could continue life.”

You can make a difference! Join Missouri’s organ and tissue donor registry today by visiting missouriorgandonor.com.