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This Thing Called Life is a podcast dedicated to acts of giving, kindness, compassion, and humanity. Host Andi Johnson introduces you to powerful organ, tissue, and eye donation stories from individuals, families, and front-line healthcare teams. These stories are meant to inspire and remind you that while life can be challenging and unpredictable, it’s also incredibly beautiful. We hope this podcast inspires you to connect with our life-saving and life-healing mission.
Episodes
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
During this episode of This Thing Called Life, host Andi Johnson continues the series on the full donation process from beginning to end; If you have missed the previous episodes in this series, you are encouraged to go back and listen to get the full picture. Today Andi speaks with Jen Malof, who is a Family Services Coordinator. Tune in.
Episode Highlights:
- Andi reviews the speakers in this series and the collaborative process of the organ donation process.
- Jen Malof has been with Life Center for just over a year. Andi explains how the Family Services Coordinators are the third critical piece in the donation cycle.
- What does a Family Services Coordinator do to facilitate donation?
- Andi asks Jen what led her into this field.
- Jen was looking to do something that felt larger than myself and helped other people, and working on a team.
- What is the training and background needed for someone who is a Family Services Coordinator?
- Jen shares about the variety of backgrounds that make up the current team they have.
- Jen explains how they set realistic expectations in the interview process and also shares that it is a very supportive culture.
- Family Service Coordinators are on call a certain number of times. Jen explains how it works.
- Andi and Jen discuss the unique dynamic of the role of Family Service Coordinator.
- It all begins with the family. You are a nurturer as a Family Service Coordinator. Jen explains the importance of the team members noting and setting up the next one who will carry on with the family in a successful way.
- Andi asks Jen what she considers to be the most challenging part of her role.
- There are office responsibilities, trainings, and on call for the position.
- Donation actually brings meaning and something positive to the donor families; In a way it brings some peace, comfort, and benefit to them. Jen explains how they see and experience that from the up close relationship with the families.
- There is extreme caution and care with analyzing the health of a potential gift and never move forward unless it is healthy enough for recovery. In rare cases, a dcotor can be in surgery and realize the organ is not viable. Jen explains the heartbreak and challenge that is.
- Organ donors all have after care no matter what the circumstance.
- Andi asks Jen what is most rewarding about her job and Jen says she doesn’t have enough time to share all of the ways.
- What is the honor walk in honor of the donor?
- There are other memory making support services; Jen shares about them.
- What is the skill set of a Family Service Coordinator? There is a lot of information to communicate in real time and a lot of non-verbal skills as well.
- Families have to receive a lot of stats and information and there is a lot of paperwork and recording that has to take place also.
- Jen shares that she is a long time breast cancer survivor and how her life experiences help her relate to the families she works with.
- For more information, check out https://aopo.org/
3 Key Points:
- The organ donation process begins with a person who designated themselves to be a donor or their family who made the decision for that individual to be a donor.This life saving and life-changing gift all begins with that and is a collaborative process from start to finish.
- Family Service Coordinators fulfill the role of being the main point of contact for that family whose loved one has either chosen to be a donor or if that family makes that decision to move ahead with donation: to support them , to educate them, to answer their questions, adn to be with them throughout the entire process.
- Donation actually brings meaning and something positive to the donor families; In a way it brings some peace, comfort, and benefit to them. Jen explains how they see and experience that from the up close relationship with the families.
Resources Mentioned: