LifeBanc

LifeBanc is the federally mandated Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) assigned to the 20 counties of Northeast Ohio including Cuyahoga County. The mission of LifeBanc is to save lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

Though an overall complex process with many different organizations involved, LifeBanc serves as the starting point of the process to identify donors, determine which organs or tissues may be suitable for donation, put together the recovery teams, and finally find the appropriate recipients for those organs. Since over 80% of suitable donors fall under the jurisdiction of a coroner, it has been imperative that LifeBanc work diligently with their respective coroner offices.

LifeBanc and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office have worked collaboratively for many years to create a “one of a kind” program not seen anywhere in the entire United States.

LifeBanc has a dedicated tissue recovery suite at the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office which is maintained at the same high level that a hospital operating room is maintained. LifeBanc has contracted with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office for other clinical areas and appreciates the cooperation and effort put forth by the coroner and his staff.

Through another “first of its kind” referral program here in Cleveland, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office is amongst the top 10 providers of tissue for transplantation, something that no other coroner or medical examiner’s office has ever accomplished.

With over 100,000 names on the national organ waiting list, LifeBanc is pleased to work hand-in-hand with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office to save many precious lives. For additional information on organ and tissue donation, log onto the LifeBanc website at www.LifeBanc.org.