- The Gift of Life Learning Center
- Donation Stories
- Educational Programs
- Volunteer! learn more...
- About IOPO
- Professional Partners
Donation Process
A step by step overview of the process of organ and tissue donation.
The Process of Organ, Tissue, and Eye Donation - Step by Step
IOPO'S Role
IOPO is the federally designated organ procurement organization for Indiana and a certified tissue and eye recovery agency. As such, we play several roles in the process of organ, tissue, and eye donation including working closely with the donor's family, with transplant surgical teams and hospital staff, and with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). The caring, compassionate professionals at IOPO facilitate giving the gift of life.
IOPO coordinates organ donation with UNOS, Indiana donor families, the transplant teams, the donor & recipient hospitals and recipient families. Since our founding in 1988, IOPO has served as a conduit for over 2,000 organ transplants in Indiana.
In Indiana, transplants are performed at Lutheran Hospital of Indiana in Fort Wayne, Clarian Health (Methodist, IU, Riley) in Indianapolis, and St. Vincent Hospital and Health Services in Indianapolis. Transplant teams and tissue recovery teams travel to hospitals statewide to perform the recovery surgeries.
Donation procedures are complex, especially with organs that must be transplanted within hours. Coordination can entail simultaneous communication with multiple transplant centers, hospitals and partners to take care of notification, scheduling, and transportation. IOPO has special teams that take care of all these details.
Click Next to learn about what happens at the hospital during a brain trauma emergency - which triggers the notification that an organ donation may occur.