Missaukee County adopts Gift of Life procedures

LAKE CITY — In the midst of tragedy, there is a chance to give hope. The Gift of Life organ/tissue donation program provides that opportunity.

Missaukee County commissioners approved a resolution to permit the county medical examiner and medical investigators, Sheriff Jim Bosscher and the undersheriff, to connect family members with the Gift of Life organization in the event of certain non-hospital deaths in order to facilitate organ/tissue recovery.

Gift of Life is a nonprofit corporation serving as an organ and tissue recovery organization. Today, there are more than 3,000 Michigan patients waiting for organ transplants and several hundred more in need of tissue such as heart valves, tendons, or bones and cornea, according to organization reports.

Missaukee County is the 27th Michigan county to adopt the resolution.

“It can make something good happen out of a tragic situation,” said Missaukee County Sheriff Jim Bosscher.

In the event of an accidental death or the death of an individual not under medical care, family members would be asked whether they would be interested in speaking to Gift of Life personnel.

“By no means is anyone going to be imposed upon, especially in a time of tragedy,” Bosscher said.

If the family agrees to contact, a Gift of Life counselor would conduct a private phone interview with family members to initiate procedures.

“If it’s going to happen, we facilitate making it happen through the medical examiner,” Bosscher explained.

Families are often open to discussing organ/tissue transplant, according to Jennifer Tislerics, Gift of Life spokesperson.

“Tissue donation helps the donor families, too,” she said. “It gives them something positive to focus on and allows their loved one to be a hero.”

One tissue donor may possibly help up to 50 patients, especially with bone donations, she said.

If an individual is found to be an eligible donor, the Gift of Life team recovers the tissues and replaces what is removed with prosthetics.

“The body is returned to the family for normal funeral practices. Whatever the family wishes,” Tislerics said.

She said 7 percent of all deaths are eligible for tissue donation.

“They give sight to the blind and mobility to the immobile,” Tislerics said. “These are incredible gifts to give.”

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