Episode 02: Organ Donation During a Pandemic with Barry Massa

During this episode of This Thing Called Life Podcast, host Andi Johnson speaks with Barry Massa, the executive director of LifeCenter Organ Donor Network. They discuss what it’s like to recover organs and tissues during a pandemic.    

Episode Highlights: 

• Barry Massa started at LifeCenter as their CFO and has been their executive director for twelve years.
• LifeCenter handles organ and tissue donation for the Cincinnati area.
• In 2019 they had a record year for organ and tissue donation due to community outreach and their relationship with local hospitals.
• The federal government created organ procurement organizations. Two different teams work with donor families. The team that is trying to save the donor's life and the donation team.
• All U.S. organ procurement organizations (OPOs) are non-profits.
• OPOs are heavily regulated. Medicare governs organ donation and the FDA oversees tissue donation. The United Network of Organ Sharing maintains the organ waitlist.
• Barry shares the biggest surprise he's experienced during his time at LifeCenter.
• There are currently 114,000 people on the waitlist.
• OPOs do not operate in the living donation space. 
• Living donation impacts the waitlist in a positive way.
• Barry shares about a good friend of his that needed a heart and lung transplant long before he was involved in LifeCenter.
• Not all hospitals do transplants.
• Barry shares how the pandemic has affected donation.
• During the coronavirus, donation really went down. There was a 40% drop in donors while hospitals were shut down.
• There wasn't a game plan in place for a pandemic so they took it day by day.
• They had to add in testing for COVID-19 in donors. There were testing delays. 
• There were a lot of donation opportunities that did not occur that would have occurred in the past.
• Barry describes how staff worked together during coronavirus.
• They had to approach families for organ donation over the phone or via Zoom.
• Communicating empathy for the family can be more difficult in a virtual environment.
• Barry explains how donation works.
• Every hospital in their area calls LifeCenter when the patient meets certain clinical triggers that could possibly result in organ donation.
• Through August 1st, donation is back to where it was last year.
• Those waiting for lungs are having a more difficult time during this pandemic.
• Barry thinks the list of people who need a lung will increase during this time.
• Kidneys are the most needed organ on the waiting list.
• Barry discusses the scarcity of PPE and how that has played a role.
• Collaboration between hospitals could have increased even more during this time.
• People feel comfortable fulfilling their roles while taking necessary precautions. The staff has a real passion for their mission.
• Barry tries to communicate with staff more regularly, at least on a weekly basis.
• The mental aspect of this pandemic is tough in so many ways.
• Barry would advise someone waiting for a transplant to stay as healthy as they can during this time.
• Today's honor moment is for all of the front line staff in all of the organ procurement organizations across the country that are working tirelessly to facilitate organ, eye, and tissue donation.
• Get to know Barry with his answers to fun personal questions at the end of the show.

3 Key Points:

1. Deceased organ donation is unique in that the patient has to have suffered a non-survivable brain injury, which is only about 1% of the deaths that occur. 
2. During the onset of COVID there was a 38% decrease in organ donation across the U.S.
3. Consistent communication, being flexible and checking on staff has been key during this time of the pandemic.

Resources Mentioned:

• LifeCenter (website) (Facebook) (Instagram) (YouTube) (Twitter)
• Andi Johnson (website) (LinkedIn) 
• Barry Massa (website) (LinkedIn)