NASHVILLE, TN — Tennessee Donor Services celebrates another year of saving and improving more lives than ever in Tennessee as it broke records for organ and tissue donation. TDS is the state’s organ procurement organization (OPO) and is responsible for the 24/7 work of orchestrating the entire organ and tissue donation process. This includes walking alongside grieving families, coordinating organ recoveries, caring for donors, ensuring timely and safe transport of organs to transplant hospitals, and registering organ, tissue and eye donors statewide.
In 2023, TDS set records for Tennessee by saving and improving thousands of lives – and providing hope to families faced with the tragic loss of a loved one. Over the course of the year, TDS:
Honored the decisions of 506 organ donors, who heroically gave the gift of life to individuals on the waitlist.
Made 1,369 lifesaving organ transplants possible by facilitating the gift of organ donation.
Registered more than 170,000 Tennesseans, who have committed to saving lives by being an organ, eye and tissue donor.
Made history by hosting six students from Meharry Medical College for an eight-week summer program that for the first time provided HBCU Medical Students an in-depth look at the organ donation field.
“Last year, I watched in awe as my team worked around the clock to make every lifesaving gift possible for our donor heroes and those awaiting transplants,” says Jill Grandas, Executive Director of Tennessee Donor Services. “It is their tenacious spirit and commitment to our mission of saving lives that carried TDS through another record-breaking year. I am proud of our staff, and I am so grateful to the Tennesseans who gave life this year and registered to be organ donors. Our work would not be possible without their generosity and selflessness.”
In 2023, TDS also launched a groundbreaking program that welcomed students from partner Medical HBCU, Meharry Medical College, to spend eight-weeks shadowing the entire organ donation process. Students were immersed in the TDS mission, from engaging with donor families, scrubbing into recovery surgery, supporting donor care management and completing research on the organ donation field. The program comes as part of a collective effort by the HBCU-OPO Task Force to address disparities in donation and transplant by increasing the number of Black professionals in the field.
Nationwide, the United States continues a trend of setting records for organ donation and transplant. In 2023, more than 16,300 deceased organ donors saved lives by donating more than 39,600 organs to individuals on the waiting list. The number of donors and number of organs transplanted both increased by 9 percent in 2023.
The United States continues to lead the world in organ donation and transplant.
Approximately 110 Americans receive lifesaving transplants each day, still more than 100,000 men, women and children in the U.S. are awaiting their lifesaving organ transplant. Three thousand of those are Tennesseans.
The TDS team works tirelessly to end the wait and encourages everyone to register to #BeTheGift as an organ, eye and tissue donor at BeTheGiftToday.com.