Guide for Medical Professionals

Legacy of Life Hawai'i is committed to maintaining strong partnerships with Hawaii hospitals and all medical-related professionals as well as our local transplant center. Together, we strive to achieve the goal of saving lives in our community through organ, tissue and eye donation.

Saving lives through organ and tissue donation is a 24 hour, 365 day per year responsibility.

Clinical Services

Legacy of Life Hawai'i (LLH) has clinical staff available at all times – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – to facilitate the gift of donation. Procurement Transplant Coordinators manage the clinical aspects of the donation process, such as working with the hospital staff to maintain the donor's organ function, collaborating with UNOS to impartially match the donor's organs with waiting recipients, and coordinating the organ recovery surgery. Potential organ donors may donate up to eight organs: the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and small intestine.

In addition to organ donation, many people are able to donate tissues such as corneas, bone, skin, heart valves, and veins after cardiac death. Tissue grafts are used in life-enhancing surgical procedures including treatment for sports injuries (such as torn ligaments), post-mastectomy reconstruction, skin grafts for burns, bone grafts to replace diseased or traumatized bone, and hernia repairs. In the U.S. alone, over 1 million tissue grafts are transplanted every year.

Who to Call

Please call Legacy of Life Hawai'i's 24-hour referral line at 1-800-695-6554 once a potential donor is identified. Our coordinators will do a brief telephone assessment of the patient to determine suitability. If appropriate, an LLH coordinator will do an on-site review of the patient's chart and develop a plan of communication with the hospital staff. Legacy of Life Hawai'i's Family Services Coordinators will facilitate a family donation discussion should it become appropriate.

Identifying a Potential Donor

A timely referral of a potential donor saves lives. CMS conditions of participation require hospitals to refer all deaths and imminent deaths to Legacy of Life Hawai'i. Imminent death is defined as a ventilator-dependent patient with a Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) less than five. Patients should be referred within one hour of meeting these criteria. In addition, in circumstances of a terminal withdrawal, please alert LLH as soon as possible prior to extubation.

The referral of all cardiac deaths should occur within one hour of pronouncement.

Glasgow Coma Score