Living Bank International

The Living Bank's mission is to raise awareness of the critical need for organ transplant donors through education and advocating for donors and their families. Ultimately the goal of the organization is to increase the number of living kidney donors in the Greater Houston area and meet the needs of those on the kidney transplant waitlist.

Why?
1) Currently there are over 2,900 people waiting for a life-saving kidney in the Greater Houston community.
2) 2014 data concludes that by the end of 2013, 283 kidney transplant surgeries were performed (101 from living donors and 182 from deceased donors).
3) When this data is quantified and projections are made it can be determined that at the same rate, roughly 11% of people waiting will receive a kidney transplant each year.
4) Although 11% (on average) receive a transplant per year the number of new patients placed on the list continues to grow at a rate of one person every 20 minutes.

Thus the field of organ donation must be enhanced, and more living organ donors should be identified in order to help eliminate the wait for thousands of people.

The Living Bank is dedicated to alleviating this issue and increasing the number of individuals willing to become organ donors, specifically living kidney donors. It has been medically proven that living organ donation has a higher survival and longevity rate when compared to donations from deceased donors. It is for this reason that our organization is dedicated to informing the public of the critical need for living organ donors.

To increase the number of living kidney organ donors in the Greater Houston area and meet the need of those on the kidney transplant waitlist, The Living Bank has developed key strategies:
1) Establishing a comprehensive curriculum and professional standard for living organ donor advocates. The existence of such a standard will create national recognition and the ability to implement our programs and mission on a wider scale.
2) Marketing and PR initiatives— connecting with traditional media outlets (radio, television, newspaper organizations) and requesting they collaborate with us by getting the message out about living organ donation to the public.
3) Building partnerships with renal experts, community leaders, dialysis clinics and medical transplant centers and educate them of the resources and services we provide. The partnerships will create a collaborative “buy-in" in which organizations will recognize the impact of kidney disease in the Houston community (kidney disease is the number 6 cause of death in the city of Houston) and its 4) 4) Expanding reach and broadening living organ donor advocate and transplant social work services in other geographical areas (Lubbock, Texas).
5) Advancing regulatory, local, state and or federal policies that will positively influence the donation and transplantation process.
5) Increasing the organization's social media reach through the #ELIMINATETHEWAIT twitter campaign and promotional initiatives.

The Living Bank has garnered the support from medical and transplant professionals in the Houston area and centers nationwide. This support system allows the organization to access expert advice for our program and services. We also have intellectual contributions from Board and Advisory Board members, employees and contract staff who provide an array of expertise which enhance the organization's capacity to implement effective strategies, measure outcomes and ultimately meet the desired goal.

The Living Bank has accomplished:
• The successful development of a curriculum and standard for independent living donor advocates that will be.
• Launched of social media and marketing campaign.
• Expanding services in Lubbock, Texas to reach potential donors and recipients in the western part of Texas.
• Following, supporting and promoting legislation that will dramatically improve the financial coverage for critical anti-rejection drugs for transplant recipients.
• Maintaining continuing education requirements for professional development program and connecting with transplant centers nationwide with the desire to be a nationally recognized provider for expert donation, transplant and independent living donor advocate education.

Although, not yet accomplished, The Living Bank is working towards the following:
• Social media and marketing campaign has launched but the currently is slow moving. We will work to develop relationships and partnerships to increase overall reach and access to other networks to build a large social media campaign with measurable, substantive impact.
• Drafting and proposing state and/or federal legislation that seeks to create a state or national database specifically for living organ donation. The creation of such a database will provide a platform that would increase paired organ exchange in which living donors who may not be a direct match to their intended recipient may match with another recipient in a similar circumstance creating an exchange of transplants. Furthermore a living organ donor database will house altruistic donor information and increase the likelihood of a transplant recipient's ability to seek out an organ donor on one official platform.