Over 1,200 people received a lifesaving gift in 2024 as organ donations surged to an all-time high in the Hoosier state.
The Indiana Donor Network, the state’s federally designated agency for organ, tissue, and cornea donation and nationwide transplantation, announced that for a ninth straight year, the number of organ donations has risen annually. Last year, the organization coordinated 1,388 organ transplants, up 22% from the previous year’s total of 1,134. According to the organization, the number of organ transplants in 2024 more than doubled compared to the 606 transplants in 2016.
Kellie Tremain, President and CEO of Indiana Donor Network, said the organization’s message to every Hoosier is an encouraging plea to be a hero and save a life by signing up as an organ and tissue donor.
“If everyone took that simple step – to sign up and say, ‘I want to be a donor at the end of my life,’ there wouldn’t be a waiting list,” she said.
In addition to lifesaving organ donations, the Indiana Donor Network reported that in 2024, 17,360 tissues from 1,592 donors of both tissue and corneas were used in surgical applications that helped heal recipients and restore sight for many others. Those numbers, the agency said, represent a 14.3% increase from the previous year, setting a new record in tissue recovery in the state.
The record-high numbers for organ and tissue donation and transplantation are also thanks to the medical professionals who work together to improve processes and outcomes in Indiana. Eskenazi Health staff members Dr. Joseph Smith, section chief of critical care medicine, medical director of critical care and medical director of respiratory care, and Vanessa Kersey, associate director of critical and palliative care, both serve on the health system’s Donor Council. The multidisciplinary group consists of nurses, respiratory therapists, physicians, advanced practice providers, legal professionals, ethics experts, chaplaincy, and representatives from the Indiana Donor Network. Smith said the council turns to the data to continuously improve organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
“We review monthly data on all patients who passed away, whether the patients were eligible for donation, whether the patients ultimately did donate, and what the outcomes of those donations were when it comes to lives saved,” said Smith. “We look at whether we adhered to our processes in identifying those patients, whether we communicated with the Indiana Donor Network and VisionFirst in a timely manner, and whether improvements are needed in our donation processes and communication.”
Eskenazi Health has implemented the iReferral, a process that assists health care teams in identifying patients who meet clinical triggers for referral to the Indiana Donor Network. Kersey said this process has increased Eskenazi Health’s timely communication to Indiana Donor Network from 45.7% in 2022 to 96.5% in 2024.
“Timely communication increases the chances that donation occurs,” she said. “Advancements in medicine and in donation are certainly having an impact, and impacts made at a health system level contribute to this success. Any change that increases the chance of a potential donor to become an actual donor will increase organ donation.”
Smith and Kersey said they attribute the increase in organ donation to several other factors, including higher numbers of donations after circulatory death, which is when families make the decision to withdraw terminally ill patients from life support. In addition, they noted that the support and education from the Indiana Donor Network has led to an increase in families authorizing organ donations from patients who were not signed up as an organ donor. That number at Eskenazi has gone from 40% in 2022 to 58.7% by the end of 2024.
Tremain said Indiana Donor Network encourages Hoosiers to take the time to learn more about organ and tissue donations and ultimately sign up to become donors.
“As we take time to honor deceased and living donors and celebrate the lives they have saved, it is important to remember there are still so many in our communities waiting for their lifesaving gift,” she said.
