‘People depend on us. Our work is a matter of life or death, so we cannot sit back.’ Get to know President & CEO Dorrie Dils
we exceeded the last record in 2019 by 14%. People are helping more people year after year. LifeLINES: What is the greatest challenge for Gift of Life? Dorrie: We’re breaking donation records, but the number of organs transplanted was slightly lower last year. We will always have some organs that, after recovery, we discover aren’t functioning well enough to be transplanted. But there are other reasons: The national allocation process is lengthy and cumbersome, and it sometimes results in an organ not being used. Our primary focus this year is resolving some issues to make sure more gifts from donors and their families are transplanted. Hopefully, we can partner with transplant centers and hospitals to make that happen. LifeLINES: The Michigan Organ Donor Registry is growing at its slowest pace in years. What’s happening? Dorrie: The biggest hurdle we have is when the potential donor isn’t registered. That’s when we sit down with the family, and, oftentimes, they don’t know what their loved one would want — and they say no. If the potential donor is registered, donation moves forward. So, we spend a lot of time on the Donor Registry — it’s really important.
Dorrie Dils leads more than 350 people at Gift of Life Michigan. Her experience in donation dates back more than 30 years when, as a young nurse and donation coordinator, she helped families navigate the donation process. For this publication, Dorrie talked about her work as a leader of the country’s 10th largest organ procurement organization, and the state of donation in Michigan today. LifeLINES: Can you talk about what’s working and what organ and tissue donation means to you? Dorrie Dils: I really feel like my career and life’s work has been in humble service. I do it because I want to work in an industry that has purpose. I try to instill that in others here, and I want them to have that same sense of urgency. When I first started in this field, a woman gave me a picture of her
3-year-old son, who was waiting for a liver transplant. She told me to put it on my bulletin board. She said, “Every day when you come to work, ask yourself what you’re doing for my son.” I did think about him every single day and I still have his photo. He got a transplant and he’s probably 30-something years old now. People depend on us. Our work is a matter of life or death, so we cannot sit back — because people are dying on the waiting list. LifeLINES: What is going well with donation right now? Dorrie: A record number of people in Michigan donated organs in 2022 for the ninth consecutive year. We’re asking more families and they’re saying yes. We also helped a record number of donors give tissue last year. We didn’t just break that record;
LifeLINES | 2023
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