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Donating for Medical Education
Donors are essential for the medical
and scientific research conducted in
medical schools, physician continuing
education programs, and other institutions
where people are learning about the
human body or developing ways to
treat and cure injury and disease.
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- At the Orthopedic Learning Center in Rosemont, Illinois, physicians who are members of the Arthroscopy Association of North America learn microsurgery techniques for joints injuries that are less invasive than traditional ones and result in quicker recovery by operating first on joints provided by donors.
- In Jessup, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Foot and Ankle Society, a state-wide association of podiatrists, orthopedists, vascular surgeons and plastic surgeons witness demonstrations of new surgical equipment and procedures in a simulated operating room using donor tissue to practice on before applying their skills on patients.
- At Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, one of the most popular presentations is called BodyWorks. It brings people face-to-face with real human organs; the organs that have been donated specifically for the museum's educational purposes.
Donors are vital to the educational process that has made health care in America the best in the world. IIAM serves to connect donors and the institutions that train our doctors, nurses and other health care providers to improve the health of living patients.
If you would like more information about donating for education, click here for more information from IIAM or call 1-800-486-IIAM. An IIAM coordinator will answer your questions.
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Choosing the Research Option
If you would like to donate your body, your organs or your tissue for medical research after death, make the necessary plans now. Signing a donor card, informing your physician, or making a living will are ways of indicating your wish to donate. Most important, share your decision to donate with your family and friends. After all, the final decision to donate will rest with your next-of-kin.
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Gift of Body
Donating your body to medical science will lead to better and healthier lives for countless people.
Your decision can help medical researchers develop new treatments for illnesses, give medical educators the tools they need to teach life-saving surgical techniques or advance the work of those who develop surgical instruments and revolutionary medical equipment.
Age and most medical conditions are not barriers to donation. IIAM can determine if you qualify. Call 1-800-486-IIAM or Click here for contact information.
There are no costs associated with donation. In the case of Whole Body Donation, there may be no funeral expenses of any kind. Interment of cremains will be at IIAM's Pennsylvania or Arizona burial site or the family can request that they be returned to them.
Additionally, IIAM does not require pre-registration. The decision to donate can be made at the time of death.
Click here for more information from IIAM or call 1-800-486-IIAM. An IIAM coordinator will answer your questions. |
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Gift of Body Program
"... She had kindness and compassion
in her heart... the decision to give to
help others was her last best gift."
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The IIAM Gift of Body Program provides donors a unique and special way to help improve and save lives.
Unlike most body donation programs, IIAM's Gift of Body Program requires no pre-registration.
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A Gift of Body donation through IIAM is easy to arrange. A donor can plan it before death, or it can be done by a donor's next-of-kin or guardian after death.
Make your wishes known
If you are interested in donating your body to medical research and education, you can make your plans now. The decision to donate starts by signing an IIAM Donor Card which is separate from a donor registry or other organ/tissue donor card you may have already completed. Making your decision known to family, friends and caregivers or documenting your decision through an advanced directive, living will, or to the person who has been given power of attorney for medical decisions will enable your wish to be carried out.
Click here for a downloadable(PDF)
of the IIAM Gift of Body Donor Card.
Fulfilling a Donor's Wishes
Family members are often the ones who must carry out a loved one's decision to donate. When a grieving family knows that the deceased wanted to donate but didn't sign the necessary documents, the family is empowered to act on his or her behalf. Sometimes a family decides to donate because it would be in keeping with their loved one's life and character.
Gift of Body Benefits
In addition to giving the donor the satisfaction of helping medical research and education, IIAM covers all costs associated with the Gift of Body Program. That includes cremation at IIAM's expense and, if the family chooses, no-cost interment at a special IIAM memorial interment site.
IIAM's Role
IIAM is a link between donors and scientific research and education, providing much needed anatomical tissue and organs to researchers, scientists and clinicians throughout the United States. Researchers may be working in the same region as the donor or doing work in an area of medical research of special interest to the donor and/or the donor family.
Here is what donor families are saying:
"Donating his body to research was a continuation in death of the way he lived his life."
"His last wish was to donate himself to research so that others would not have to suffer as he did. As he unselfishly gave of himself to others while living, he also gave of himself after death, because his spirit is eternal."
Find Out About Being a Gift of Body Donor
Contact IIAM about becoming a Gift of Body donor. We will answer your questions and send you additional information. A family member or caregiver can also call IIAM on your behalf. In cases where death is approaching or has just occurred, a coordinator will speak with the next-of-kin.
Call 1-800-486-IIAM or click here. (Please do not make a referral of a donor in need of assistance through e-mail.)
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If you would like information on where to find
grief resources in your area, please contact:
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Angie Pomykala, MHA
IIAM Donor Services Coordinator
Tel: 570-496-3441
Fax: 570-496-3423
angie_pomykala@mtf.org
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