SRSO Partners with Florida Tissue Services

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office is pleased to announce their partnership with Florida Tissue Services in the implementation of their non-hospital death referral program. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office has been in this partnership since March 2009. Sheriff Hall believes that the partnership is vital to the community in order to ensure that citizens have the option to honor the wishes of their loved ones. According to Florida Tissue Services, an average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available transplants. One organ donor can save the lives of up to 8 people, and one tissue donor may help restore health to more than 150 people. In Florida alone, there are over 3,600 people on a waiting list. The partnership with law enforcement is vital to this mission. Currently, non-hospital deaths are reported to law enforcement; however they are not required to be reported for tissue consideration. Due to this, if a loved one passes away at home, their wish to donate will most likely be overlooked. In these types of situations, the loved one is taken straight to the funeral home and may not have their donor status checked against the donor registry or with the family.With this partnership, personnel at the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office are educated on how to gather specifically requested information which is required for the referral program. Deputies are not asked to approach the families about the program; they merely gather the information and passing it along to referral program. By doing this simple step, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office has helped in sharing great success in this partnership. In the past 5 months, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office made 69 referrals, with 39 of the potential donors referred being deemed suitable for donation. These families were approached for consent, and bereavement services were extended to support each family. 13 of those approached consented to honoring their loved one through tissue donation. Sheriff Hall is happy to continue his support of the program, ensuring that all citizens of Santa Rosa County are ensured the same options of donation. Sheriff Wendell Hall looks forward to the continued success associated with the program.Florida Tissue Services is a non-profit agency that coordinates tissue donation in Northwest and Northeast Florida , provides an aftercare program for donor families, and teaches the public about donation. Floridians can sign up to be organ and tissue donors at www.DonatelifeFlorida.org .