The OPO in our region is Donor Alliance. The responsibilities of Donor Alliance include the coordination, retrieval and distribution of organs available in our Rocky Mountain Region. The Donor Alliance coordinator is notified by a hospital of a potential donor. Prior to removal of the organs, an extensive evaluation of the donor is completed. Screening for diseases, infection, or abnormalities of the donated organs is done.
Every effort is made to assure that the organs used for transplant are normal and healthy.
Organ donors are usually victims of an accident resulting in an injury to the head whereby the patient is declared brain-dead. The declaration of brain death means that all activity in the brain has stopped and none of the damage to the brain is reversible. If consent for organ donation is given, the donor's blood pressure is maintained by artificial means until the surgical team arrives to remove the organs. They are removed by sterile surgical procedure in the operating room. Once the organs are removed, they are flushed with a special solution that helps preserve them until they are transplanted.