Utah Lions Eye Bank Kicks off Heart of the Lion Tissue Delivery Program

Salt Lake City, Utah
April 2, 2007

Spring has indeed arrived and the flowers and foliage are beginning to appear in Salt Lake City! Along with this very welcomed change of season, the Utah Lions Eye Bank is thrilled to be welcoming in a long-awaited tissue delivery program appropriately named, "The Heart of the Lion". Sponsored by the hardworking and dedicated Utah Lion volunteers, the Heart of the Lion tissue delivery program returns the very core of eye banking with Lions to Salt Lake City.

The Utah Lions Eye Bank is located in the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah.

On March 22nd, the Utah Lions Eye Bank officially kicked-off the Heart of the Lion tissue delivery program by conducting an orientation to introduce and educate Lion volunteers on how the program will work. Over 25 enthusiastic Lion volunteers attended the landmark meeting and each are now equipped with the delivery tools necessary to assist in restoring sight to the residents of Utah.

After attending a brief presentation and completing a short course on Defensive Driving, the Heart of the Lion volunteers were provided with a delivery manual designed to ensure the timely and appropriate delivery of surgical ocular tissue. The delivery manual contains step-by-step driving instructions, addresses, and photographs for each of the surgery center locations as well as the instructions for picking up and delivering shipments to and from the Salt Lake City International Airport.

Coordinated by the staff of the Utah Lions Eye Bank and the Call Lions Sam Mascarenas, George Whitley, and Bill Barton, the Heart of the Lion volunteers will be responsible for picking-up and delivering tissue shipments along the entire Wasatch front. Until our on-line surgery schedule is made available to the volunteers, surgery schedules will be provided to the Call Lions prior to the beginning of each month. The Call Lions will then be responsible for contacting volunteers in the appropriate area of Utah to secure a volunteer courier for each scheduled surgery. Once each of the surgeries for the upcoming month has been covered, the Call Lions will return the completed schedule to the Utah Lions Eye Bank. One day prior to the scheduled surgery date, the Distribution Coordinator for the eye bank will contact the assigned volunteer courier to provide the final arrangements for the tissue to be delivered.

With more than 500 surgical corneas provided annually, Utah Lions will have many opportunities to assist in the restoration of sight to the residents of Utah. The Utah Lions Eye Bank at the John A. Moran Eye Center is excited about the opportunity to work alongside so many great Lions. If you are a Lion residing along the Wasatch front and are interested in participating in the Heart of the Lion tissue delivery program, please contact Victoria Ladd at 801.581.2039 or victoria.ladd@hsc.utah.edu.

Finally, the Utah Lions Eye Bank staff would like to thank all of the volunteers who have already signed up to participate in this program. For those Lions who signed up to participate but were unable to attend the first orientation and for new Lion volunteers deciding to join the program, a second session is planned for later this year.

Visit our News and Events Archive for a complete list of previous News and Events.