Mission

The mission of the American Tissue Services Foundation, a nonprofit organization, is to rebuild lives through the gift of donation. The Foundation provides compassionate support for donor families during the donation event and beyond, employs highly competent and caring staff, and partners with organizations dedicated to the innovative use of tissue in medical care and research.

Principles of Operation

Support for Grieving Families: ATSF has developed a donor family Healing Program™, which includes the following attributes:

compassionate telephone support during the consent and history gathering sessions with family members,
presentation of bereavement materials, including Heirlooms™, an interactive grief journal, and local support group information following the donation,
ongoing development of a volunteer network of donor family members to support new families, including web site applications,
sponsorship and participation in annual recognition events and memorial services for families,
creation of a personalized, handcrafted stained glass memorial piece, the Tear Catcher™.
relay to families non-identifying information about recipients of the tissue.

Fully Informed Consent: Consent is conducted with great sensitivity to the families’ situation. Information about the donation, the processing, and the use of tissue in transplant is presented in terms that are easily understood. The involvement of for-profit companies in the delivery of tissue to the medical community is addressed openly. The consent is obtained under circumstances that provide an opportunity to ask questions and receive informative responses. Consents are obtained in accordance with federal, state, and/or local laws and/or regulations and follow the Joint Statement of American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO), and Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) on Model Elements of Informed Consent for Organ and Tissue Donation.

Quality Initiatives: ATSF has created standard operating procedures and training materials in full compliance with current state and federal regulations and Good Tissue Practices (GTP).

Competency of Staff: ATSF established a comprehensive training program for all staff, including annual competency requirements. All full and part time staff performing regulated functions are required to pass the AATB’s certification program for Tissue Banking Specialist. All donation coordination staff conducting informed consent procedures are required to participate in bereavement support training. ATSF seeks to hire the most effective and skilled tissue banking specialists.

Partnerships: ATSF does not process and distribute tissue for transplantation; our focus is the donation process and the families and agencies involved. The Foundation forms partnerships with companies capable of investing in innovative product design of tissue products for medical use. These companies may be for-profit in nature, as are the vast majority of companies involved in the medical care industry. For innovation in bone and soft tissue products, the Foundation has committed to a long-term partnership with Osteotech, Inc. For cardiovascular tissue and skin, ATSF develops partnerships that benefit the local needs of the medical community, if desired by our donation partners.

Donation Awareness: ATSF actively participates in increasing public awareness of organ, tissue, and eye donation. On a local level, the Foundation participates in and/or sponsors donor family recognition/memorial events to honor tissue donor families.